The Icemaidens and the Philosopher's Stone
by Pyeknu
Summary: My reimaging of Book 1 of the "HP" series. A traveller comes to attend Hogwarts, joining Harry and his friends for their first year. How will a resurrectionist like Chikage impact the lives of the Boy-Who-Lived and the Icemaidens, much less their peers?
1. The Traveller Arrives

Megatōkyō, Kōtō Ward, Friday 1 March 2030, before dawn . . .

"So when are ye gonna tell yuir daughter about what will happen tae Chikage?"

A snort escaped the elderly man in the flowing robes of a Shintō high priest, currently standing beside one of the meson-reinforced plexiglas floor-to-ceiling window panels lining one side of his reception room near the top of the Megatōkyō Spiral.

Located in a rectangular plot of land two hundred hectares in size, the Spiral was a 2.5 kilometre high, needle-shaped tower ringed by four clockwise-spinning rings of glowing diamond meson shaped like the D.N.A. helix, the whole framed at its base by four kilometre-high archways that bracketed the tower's foundations, resembling a framed "X" when viewed from the cardinal directions. Surrounding the tower were curved memorial walls, ten to the south and four to the north of the foundation. Each of these was five metres tall and extending for five hundred metres in length from the central walkways of the Memorial Grounds right to the border walkways. Each section of dark marble on those walls was etched with the names of the over two million casualties of the Second Great Kantō Earthquake and its aftermath, which struck an unsuspecting city of Tōkyō and its surrounding municipalities on a late Saturday morning five years before. New names were added as the most profound aftermath of those events - the coming of the artificial intelligence known colloquially as the "boomer" - extracted more and more lives from those who resided within and near the world's largest city.

Gazing out at the vast megalopolis around his magically-hidden home and work base - said city now glittering with the lights of evening as the first rays of morning light began to peek over the horizon far to the east - Ryūji Hirosaki tried not to smirk too much as he considered Nicole McTavish's question. While still possessing a considerable fraction of the magical strength he had on returning to his home dimension in the early summer of 1939, he knew he wouldn't long be for this life. The two years immediately after Second Kantō had nearly destroyed Tōkyō and condemned his poor granddaughter into a horrid quasi-life as a disembodied spirit - kept "alive" thanks to the near-sacrifice of a young warrior mage from Wales as he strove to save the lives of his twenty-nine students - had been more draining on him magically and spiritually than even the intensive seven years (plus the six summer side trips elsewhere) he had spent at Hogwarts alongside people like Glaston Tore and Wilma Skegness. Erecting the Spiral - a tower that served as a living, functional spiritual memorial to the dead of Second Kantō as well as a physical patch for the wrecked ley lines left behind by that earthquake - in under twenty-two months had nearly killed him as well as many of the spiritualists and wizards that had come to aid him in his vital task. In a way, it HAD guaranteed he will die within the next few years. But it had been worth it.

He had vowed this long before he began his Quest in the early summer of 1932:

As long as he lived, the spiritual needs of ALL around him would be answered!

And he would see to it that Chikage would understand that as well.

"She will find out when it is far too late to stop it, Nicole," Ryūji said as he gazed on his guest, who was currently enjoying some of the red pepper-spiced tea the Grand Magi of the Second Kantō Victims Memorial Association (as the overall group that supervised the Spiral and the surrounding Memorial Grounds in the name of His Imperial Majesty called themselves as a group) loved. "Your godson nicely arranged that when I asked him to do what he did for Chikage. He was actually quite appalled when he heard how much Jalynda strove to stop Chikage from exploring her full potential."

Nicole's eyes narrowed as she stared at him. "And ye still want her to go to THAT time in that other universe?" she wondered. "To be with HIM and HER?"

"What better way for her to learn it all," he responded.

The Matriarch of the Clan McTavish of Killiecrankie and the co-chairwoman of Toratotaka International L.L.C. took that in, and then she nodded. "There will be precautions, of course," she automatically warned. "We cannae allow Chikage to go over tae that universe with the knowledge of what happened to the Harry and Rose Potter of _this_ universe. Even if the wee ones in that universe were nae raised on a different planet as ours were, they were living together at yuir friend's place in Somerset."

A nod. "Fair enough . . . "

"Ojii-san!"

Ryūji and Nicole both winced on hearing that sharp voice, and then they turned as the door leading from his apartment to the main elevator flew open, revealing a young girl possessing the lavender-dark pink hair and deep royal blue eyes the Grand Magi of the Spiral had possessed in his youth. She was currently dressed in a gold T-shirt and track pants, the former embossed with Toratotaka's obelisk-and-sunrise corporate logo over the alpha-numeric code **CC010HC** on the left breast, the name **CHIKAGE** in script over the right. Her hair was now loose and tumbling well past her shoulders in lieu of the high bun she normally wore it. And her new clone-bioroid body . . .

This was not the Chikage Hirosaki of 2025 reborn in a new body.

This was the Chikage Hirosaki of five years earlier, when she was eleven.

When she could have gone to a place like Hogwarts . . .

. . . and if her mother hadn't done everything she could to stop Chikage from going on her Quest in 2020, she could have avoided Second Kantō altogether.

Ryūji and Chikage gazed on each other, the former calm and collected while the latter had a mildly-annoyed look on her face. That was typical for his granddaughter, the Grand Magi fondly mused. Chikage had always been so unflappable even when she was a child. Seldom raising her voice beyond what could be seen as polite in modern Japanese society, she never lost control over herself in infantile temper-tantrums even when she was clearly in the right of any situation she faced. Perhaps it was because of her deep-set conviction that she had been resurrected from a previous existence in the murky past. That was fine and fair, Ryūji knew, just as long as Chikage didn't allow her past lives to weigh down on her soul as some reincarnationists did.

And she would need to keep a clear head now.

"Well?"

Chikage's eyebrow was arched as one of her slipper-clad feet tapped impatiently on the floor. Noting that, Ryūji smirked as he turned away. "You were prevented from exploring your power and potential in 2020 because of your mother's insane fear of magic and her belief that it was magic itself that killed your grandmother," the Grand Magi stated as he clasped his hands behind his back. "Would you care to take the chance to go on your Quest now?" he then wondered as he stared knowingly at her.

She returned his look, and then a light smile crossed her face.

"I believe we best get started," she answered . . .

* * *

**_Harry Potter and the Icemaidens: Philosopher's Stone_**  
By Fred Herriot

Scene suggestions by Daniel Lindberg. Language advice by Tommy King. Old English translation by Philsc.

Based on _Harry Potter_, created by J.K. Rowling; and _Sister Princess - Onii-chan Daisuki_, created by Sakurako Kimino and Naoto Tenhiro.

_The Song of the Dead_ (1896), written by J. Rudyard Kipling. _Through A Glass, Darkly_ (1922), written by Gen George S. Patton Jr. USA.

Also including characters and situations from _Mahō Sensei Negima_, created by Ken Akamatsu; _Bubblegum Crisis_, produced by Artmic and Youmex; _Tokimeki Memorial_, created by Konami; _Urusei Yatsura_, created by Rumiko Takahashi; and _Highlander_, created by Gregory Widen.

Also including characters and situations from the fanfic series _Urusei Yatsura - The Senior Year_, created by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot; and _Harry Potter and the Sun Source_, created by Clell Harmon.

* * *

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ This is a fan-fiction story written as one fan's salute to the creations of the above-mentioned writers and artists. It is not meant to infringe on any copyrights._

_**NOTE:**__ Writer's notes for this story will be at the end of the story text (when the story is in one single file) or on a separate page (when posted to fan-fiction websites). All direct quotes from _Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_ were taken from the Raincoast Books hardcover edition, printed in 2000. The class schedule used here was created by the fanfic writer using the pen-name "Musings of Apathy." Said schedule is available at Herman Tumbledweed's Yahoo Group in the Files section (you must become a member of the group to access the file, though). The layout of Hogwarts as described here is based on the map of the school created by Randwülf._

_Note that all names in this story are written in Western "family name-last" order._

* * *

Beckery Hill, Wednesday 31 July 1991 . . .

"Here you are, Mistress Chikage. Are you sure you don't want anything more?"

Chikage shook her head as she took the vitamin-filled strawberry milkshake that had just been prepared for her by Bessie Bunter. It had been an hour since her arrival at the Garden of the Galaxy, enough time for the elves that lived at Reevetor Somerset to recover from the backlash of the amount of sheer POWER that had been necessary to transport Ryūji Hirosaki's granddaughter across the dimensional veil and nearly forty years back in time. "No," she said before taking a sip of the frothy drink. "This body came out of storage not a day before my soul was properly inserted into it and I was allowed to awaken. Because it was in storage for a short while after it had been gestated, the next two days will force me to keep the consumption of foods that will tax my stomach to a minimum." Another sip. "Mmmm. Just as good as Shirayuki's."

"Who's Shirayuki?" Harry Potter asked. He, his sister Rose, their friends and Bessie were currently relaxing in the living room of the Reevetor while the adults were in the dining room next door discussing the implications of the coming of "the Second Traveller" (as the goblins from Gringotts were now calling Chikage) on their world. Having just joined them were Dudley Dursley and his younger brother, Alfred.

Chikage smiled. "One of my half-sisters: Shirayuki Osamu. She normally lives with her mother and stepfather in Nagoya; that's west of Tōkyō." She refused to call the city of her birth by the unimaginative moniker that had been given to it in the wake of Second Kantō, when the Genom Corporation began to transform it into Megatōkyō, the "technological capital of the future." "She's an aspiring chef. Quite good with desserts and other sweets; she's pushing herself . . . " - the traveller from another Earth didn't feel it odd to completely ignore the five-year long "gap" in her life and the lives of those like her - " . . . to expand enough so that she can open her own restaurant when she graduates from high school in a few years." Another sip of the milkshake, and then she nodded. "Very nice, Mistress Elizabeth. My thanks."

Eyes flicked to the bespectacled human-shaped elf as her cheeks suddenly turned cherry-red. "Sh-sh-she called m-m-me 'M-m-m-Mistress?'" Bessie stammered as her whole body began to quake, and then she squealed in embarrassment before popping away.

Laughter filled the living room from the older children there. "Why'd she go away?" Alfred asked, a confused look on his face as he gazed on his brother and cousins. Save for him being more slender, he was a double of Dudley at age four.

"It's because Chikage called her 'mistress,' Al," Achelois Runcorn answered. "Elves don't like the idea of humans calling them that." She then gazed on Chikage. "Though I suspect Chikage actually meant to look on Bessie as the 'mistress of the household.' Which is, in an old-fashioned way, what one would call someone like her?"

Alfred looked even more confused. "'Mistress of the household?'"

"A very old term in your society, Alfred," Chikage stated. "It means that even though your cousins are the true owners (so to speak) of this tower, Mistress Elizabeth (as the one who keeps it clean and neat) is the real boss here!"

The young boy took that in, and then he sighed. "Magic is weird!"

"Al, what did you expect?" Rose wondered. "With us, 'weird' is NORMAL!"

More laughter filled the room. Even Alfred found himself smiling . . .

* * *

"So our children's magical potential is above-average?"

Hamilton St. John nodded. "Yes. I suspect that it will remain this way until they get to Hogwarts and begin training in earnest," he said as he tapped the sheet of paper on the kitchen table with the results of the Neuwied Tests he had done on the younger Dursley children. Alfred had rated a 128 while Anne and Violet - who were now being watched over by Jane Porter, though both Petunia Dursley and Lilian Evans were keeping an eye on them - had scored 134 on their tests. "I doubt the null-magic field Reggie Spelthorne set up over your home town will affect them at all. Have you had a chance to take them outside of Little Whinging? Any incidents of accidental magic?"

"Possibly one," Petunia noted. "We visited the zoo at the Chessington World of Adventures for Dudley's birthday. When we passed by the snake exhibit, Alfred said the boa constrictor that was there felt 'funny' to him." She stared at Lilian. "Didn't Lily tell me of some magical language skill that allows people to speak to snakes?"

Lilian nodded as she sipped her apple juice. "It's called 'parseltongue.' It's traditionally seen as a 'dark' magical gift, though it's just simply the ability to converse with a magical serpent or other such reptile. One can speak to dragons with parseltongue as they themselves are just a different type of reptile closely related to the dinosaurs." A sigh. "The Dark Lord himself was a parseltongue; that's where most of the modern fear of the skill comes from. It's not so surprising; Salazar Slytherin was one himself and the Dark Lord is his last living direct-line descendant." She then sighed. "We just discovered this a month ago: Harry has that ability."

Every one not of the Reevetor and Reevewick perked. "No doubt inherited from the Dark Lord himself that night at Godric's Hollow," Severus Snape noted.

"Snakes talk?"

Eyes locked on Violet Dursley. "Magical snakes do, my dear," Albus Dumbledore - who had been busy reading a letter Chikage had presented him from her grandfather - stated. "It's a truthfully harmless skill, though many do not look on it that way."

"How did you learn of this?" Minerva McGonagall wondered.

"The kids were tearing up the south part of the hill in wand practice when Harry heard someone cry out in joy," Lilian replied. "Both of them looked around for a half-hour before they discovered an adder that was busy gulping down a mouse that had been stunned by a Reductor blow near his nest." A smile. "He even thanked Harry for giving him his first fresh meal in a week, and then he slithered off down the hill."

Remus Lupin chuckled. "Harry's a little hesitant on fighting Rose now that he knows there are animals he can actually talk to that can be hurt when they spar."

"He'll have to be warned to keep that skill hidden," Severus warned.

The werewolf nodded. "So what did Ryūji write, anyway?" Minerva wondered.

Albus smiled. "Oh, this is a formal request to allow us to take Chikage in as a student this year," he said as he folded the paper and slipped it into his robes. "He advised us Chikage had elements of her memories suppressed by Mrs. McTavish to ensure that what happened to our counterparts in her dimension would not be revealed here, so anything that could hurt people here will be prevented as much as possible. After all, while it is 1991 here, it's 2030 in that dimension. Mrs. McTavish was most concerned about a potential spill-over of knowledge of events nearly forty years before (in Chikage's eyes) and how that could potentially influence events in our dimension."

"That's odd," Lilian mused.

"What do you mean?" Hamilton asked.

"Why would Elder Ryūji - and now Chikage - be willing to cross over into our dimension to learn magic? There's a Hogwarts in that dimension. Why not go there?"

A sigh. "Ryūji impressed this on me before we parted for the final time in 1939, Lilian," Albus said. "Unlike his dimension, the magical skill sets and knowledge in our dimension - both of our world and of the _Mundus Magicus_ - are separate and do not really influence each other. Such is not the same in his dimension. There, the two worlds have interacted with each other for over twenty-six hundred years. Too much has become blurred and mixed up. And then we have to factor in the alien and other non-magical paranormal involvement with his world." The headmaster closed his eyes. "He felt that to understand the origins of the magic in HIS universe - both on his Earth and the _Mundus Magicus_ in his home dimension - he had to come to a place where he could learn the theories and experience it without outside taint. He couldn't do that in his home universe, so he came to _this_ one to do that." A hum. "I've been contemplating this since we learned of what Glaston's sacrifice ten years ago did to Rose and the others touched by the _Desidero Infantis_ he cast to save Rose . . . "

"Still, it's curious that this man was willing to allow his own granddaughter - and she's Harry's age, for God's sake! - to travel here ALONE to study magic!" Vernon Dursley cut in. "Isn't he worried about what could happen to her?"

Albus breathed out. He had read THAT part of the letter, though he would keep that secret from even Minerva and Severus. "I'm sure he is, especially given how Chikage's own mother Jalynda refused to explore her own magical potential when she became of age to engage in her own Quest." He then smiled. "Still, Chikage will NOT be alone, Vernon. Already, your niece and nephew are befriending her, as are their friends. I will gladly add Dudley to that list as well as Albert. She certainly could call upon the goblins for assistance if necessary; they do remember how kindly and how respectfully Ryūji treated them when he was here. And he WAS the man who, in effect, helped the goblins expand their interests to the _Mundus Magicus_, which earns them much in the way of gold that the Ministry can't touch. They will not forget that."

"Her grandfather is THAT famous?" Petunia asked.

"Oh, yes, he is, Petunia. Here's how he actually came to us . . . "

* * *

"You're a **bioroid?**"

That had been Dudley Dursley and Aesup Mun who had said that.

Chikage nodded. "Correct. I am what is officially called a 'cybernetically-enhanced, D.N.A.-clone, soul mental transference, biological android.' 'Bioroid' is a portmanteau of 'biological android.'" An amused smirk crossed her face. "Though I have to really wonder where on Earth they got the 'cybernetically-enhanced' part from. Save for the linkpoints in my body . . . " - she held up the back of her hand, where a diamond-shaped crystal had been allowed to emerge from under her skin over the tendon of the extensor indicis muscle on her middle finger line - " . . . there's not a single mechanical part in me." She then rolled her eyes as the linkpoint vanished and she lowered her arm. "Still, given how _bad_ my old body looked like after it had been dug out of the rubble - this is what Grandfather told me, of course - though . . . "

"How bad?" Jane Roper asked.

"Like a regiment of Aurors used it to practice their Reductor Curses on and they discovered the wonderful joys of firing in a volley line."

Harry and Rose both made faces. "EWWWWWWWW!"

"And you were saved by a wizard from Wales trained in the ways of the _Mundus Magicus_?" Marian Rivers then asked. "Just like Sir Glaston saved Rose?"

A nod. "Yes. In total, there were a hundred and thirty-three of us. Negi - that's his name: Negi Springfield - was trying to save one of his students from a curse forced on her years ago as the quake got underway in 2025 up in my time. He . . . " Here, Chikage shrugged, smiling in amusement. "Well, he overdid it."

"Did he die?" Rose wondered in a hushed voice.

A shake of the head. "No, though he was in a magical coma for four years. The event almost drained all his magic from him." A sigh. "As near as Grandfather himself could determine, Negi's spell somehow mixed with the released magical and spiritual energy of the ley lines severed by the quake, thus reaching out father than he intended and saving many more than what he had hoped to save. I'm told he is very happy that he did indeed save much more than what his spell had first been meant to do."

"I bet he's famous," Harry noted.

"To an extent - and within our circles, of course - he is."

Everyone nodded. "So why come here then?" Camellia Matthews wondered.

"What do you mean?"

"Why come here to explore magic? Don't you have your own Hogwarts?"

Chikage smiled. "Just a moment . . . "

She reached into one of the cargo pockets on the inside of her white, crucifix-embossed hooded cape, and then she pulled out an opaque glass-like rectangle about the size of a small television screen. Looking on it, everyone was quick to see that it seemed to be filled with what appeared to be circuits and motherboards, but none of them were composed of recognisable mechanical parts. "A computer?" Harry asked; it had taken a while, but he could use a magically-protected Compaq Presario desktop that Remus had got for him for his ninth birthday. He had even bought a non-magically protected one for Dudley for his tenth birthday, which the latter had come to love.

"It's some sort of laptop computer, right?" Dudley asked.

"In a way, yes. Officially, this is a PADD. That's an acronym; it means 'Personal Archival Display Device,'" Chikage answered as she placed her fingertips on the glossy surface. "You're in the early stages of the Internet revolution at this time. In my time, everything is practically run through the Internet. And machines like this are the way by which we can access the Internet and all the information there." She smiled as a screen then appeared on the PADD, revealing a cartoonish super-deformed version of her beside an entry port for a password, a cursor flashing at the left side of that. At the bottom of the screen was a keyboard. "Under normal circumstances, this device would be linked to the main database of the company that supported my rebirth into what I am now: The LoopNet. However, the link can't work across dimensional barriers, much less forward and backward in time."

"What's a 'database?'" Alfred asked.

Chikage smiled. "You ever have been to a library, Alfred?"

"Uh-huh."

"Has your Uncle Remus told you of the library at Hogwarts?"

A nod. "Uh-huh."

"Imagine all the information in that library - it was a count of over a hundred thousand texts back in 1939, I believe - being crammed into something the size of this?" Chikage said as she tapped her PADD. "That's a database. That is what the Internet and computer technology will become: A convenient source of knowledge."

"_Wa!_" Aesup breathed out. "I know wizards in Korea are adopting computer technology and developing something like a magical Internet. So are the Japanese."

"Won't see it happen here for a while," Achelois warned.

"So what are you going to do with that, Chikage?" Rose asked.

Chikage smiled. "In part, this will serve as my personal grimoire, where I will keep all knowledge that I acquire on my journey. In part, this also will serve as an emotional link back to home, to remind me of what I'm going to be returning to when I get back there." She tapped keys on the PADD, allowing a hologram to appear.

"Wicked!" everyone gasped.

"Who IS that?" Jane asked.

"My half-brother, Wataru Minakami," Chikage answered. On noting the surprise on her hosts' faces, she added, "We share the same father but we have different mothers since my mother married a man who was barren." On seeing Albert blink in confusion, she smiled. "That means he couldn't be my father, Albert, like Dudley's father is your father as well. So Mother asked Wataru's father Atsuo to be my father."

"He's cute!" Brianna Spinks gushed.

"Yes, _Ani-kun_ is that."

"'_Ani-kun_?'" Harry asked.

"'_Ani_' is one way of saying 'elder brother' in Japanese; it's normally said as _Onii_," Chikage explained. "'_Kun_' is a name suffix we use to associate with close friends. In Aesup's tongue, it would be said '_Oppa-gun_.'" She hummed. "In English, my way of addressing him might translate as 'Brother Darling.' It's hard since terms in one language often don't have the right equivalent in another language."

Rose nodded. "So why are you here?"

A sigh. "Partially because I want to help make it a tradition in my family. Unlike the magics of your universe, the magics of my universe - both from the _Mundus Magicus_ and the _Mundus Vetus_ . . . " - She quickly noticed Dudley's and Alfred's confused looks - " . . . Earth, in other words - have had nearly three millennia to intermix and develop into something that is, while strong and quite useful, still a blended form which obscures the origins of various magic skill sets. Coming here, to a place where the two worlds are pretty much separate and have advanced their magical knowledge separately ensures I will get what I desire - both at Hogwarts and at Ariadne (where I intend to go on one of my summer trips) - as 'pure' as possible."

"What's the other reason?" Marian asked.

Chikage closed her eyes. "My grandfather was born in 1921, Marian. It's now 2030 in my dimension, which makes him 109 years old. He's roughly the same age as Headmaster Dumbledore is now. Five years ago, when he came to be aware of the severity of the damage Second Kantō unleashed on Tōkyō and elsewhere, he poured his magic into creating the Spiral. You all saw the image of it when I came here, I believe."

The wizards in the group nodded. "How big is that place anyway?" Jane asked. "When we saw it, the image just blotted out most of the sky over the Garden."

"Two-point-five kilometres from ground level to tip of the tower. Add another eight hundred metres for the underground structure to keep it erect."

Silence.

"How fast was it built?" Harry asked as Dudley's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Twenty-two months," Chikage answered.

"Crikey!" Dudley exclaimed. "The biggest tower here is the C.N. Tower in Toronto! That's only five HUNDRED metres high! How did your granddad do that?"

"With almost all the magic he possessed," she answered. "Grandfather poured EVERYTHING he had into making that place real. He nearly drove himself into a magical coma, especially given the urgency of the task at hand. Even if he seems the picture of health now, I will tell you this: At most, he may have five years left to live."

More silence.

"That's terrible!" Achelois whispered as her eyes began to tear.

Chikage reached over to pat the other girl's shoulder. "Death comes to us all, Achelois. Don't cry for him. He's lived a very long, good and full life." She pulled her hand away. "He once heard from the Headmaster that to the well-prepared mind, death is nothing more than the next great adventure in life. I know that well. But believe me when I tell you this." She pointed out the window to the Garden. "Seven years from now, I'll depart for my home dimension through that Garden . . . and arrive within days of my departure back on my world. And I will be as prepared as I can be for when the time finally comes that I have to step into Grandfather's place."

"No rest for the wicked, huh?" Harry asked.

She shook her head . . .

* * *

London, the Borough of Greenwich, Reevetor London . . .

The core members of the Noble and Ancient Magical House of Roper of Bellacourt currently lived in Greenwich, one of the boroughs in the east end of the old County of London south of the Thames. The Reevetor which served as Hogan Roper's workplace was located on the grounds of Greenwich Park, hidden underground in a space of forest to the east of the Royal Observatory. While it - like many of the magical Reeve's Towers that dotted the United Kingdom - wouldn't attract attention since it was underground, it was still heavily protected by strong normal-repellent wards and notice-me-not charms to keep archaeologists and other excavators far away from the place.

Hogan Roper himself was currently at work in his Scrying Room, scanning the diagram of the underground structure of the Ministry of Magic he had called up when the alert charms there picked up a HUGE disturbance of magic from the main work zone of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. While he didn't have any contacts among the Auror Corps or any of Amelia Bones' other co-workers, he knew if there was something that was unique or interesting that he or his fellow Magical Sheriffs had missed, the D.M.L.E. might pick up on it. And by the looks of it, something HAD happened . . .!

"Dear?"

He perked, looking over as his wife walked in. "What is it, Ronnie?"

"Shouldn't Jane be home by now?"

Hogan blinked, and then he chuckled. "It's Harry's birthday today, Ronnie. She probably went out with him and the others to Beckery Hill . . . "

A _ding!_ rang through the air. "Hogan?"

He whispered a spell. "Hello, Ian! What is it?" he then called out.

"Are you busy right now? I need to see you! It's urgent!"

Hogan nodded. "Come through to the living room. I'll be there in a minute."

"Right."

The link with the Department of Mysteries was cut off. "What's going on?" Veronica asked as Hogan proceeded to cancel out all the charms he had activated.

"We'll find out soon enough," he said.

Once that was done, the couple side-apparated to the Roper home, located on Westcombe Park Road close to the intersection of Foyle Road east of Greenwich Park. They appeared just as the flames of the fireplace flared, allowing a black-cloaked figure to step into the living room. A _pop!_ then heralded the arrival of Tanny Stevens, who had been quick to sense the arrival of the Unspeakable. "Good afternoon, Master Ian," she greeted him with a bow. "Would you like some coffee or tea?"

"Some firewhiskey if you have some, Tanny," Ian Boot said as he drew off his hood and shook his head of dark brown hair. "I rather need it right now."

Tanny nodded as she popped back out to get his drink. "Are you alright, Ian?" Hogan asked as he shook his friend's hand, and then guided him to a nearby couch. "You normally don't hit the sauce THIS early in the day! What the devil happened?"

Ian sighed. He was an Unspeakable, thus bound by his duty and ethics to keep whatever he had been asked to research to himself, only discussing same with his co-workers (hence the title other wizards and witches used for people like him). Being an Unspeakable, though, demanded a VERY high level of intelligence and several post-NEWT level masteries in various disciplines. And while he really liked doing his work and tolerated the emotional strain his need to keep secrets often unleashed on his marriage (not that his wife Michelle herself didn't have her own secrets to keep given that she herself was a weretiger, with all the joys THAT brought her), he knew there were times that he needed to slip the cloak off and tell someone what was bothering him. And while he didn't know exactly what his current host did for a living, Ian had, over the years, come to make some interesting conclusions about Hogan Roper's line of work.

Making the Loyal Oath to the Crown had opened his eyes to all sorts of things.

He blinked on hearing a _pop!_ herald Tanny's return, a fresh glass of Odgen's in hand. "Ah, thank you, my dear," Ian said as he took the snifter in hand and gently sipped the whiskey. Ignoring the smoke leaving his ears as the magically-enhanced alcohol entered his stomach, he gazed on Hogan. "We just had a Class Ten event today."

Hogan blinked, his jaw dropping as his mind tried to wrap around what Ian had just said. "A Class TEN? Dear God! That's the equal of a nuclear bomb! When?"

"About two hours ago," Ian answered as Veronica moved to sit beside her husband. "Hit us all out of the blue! All the sensors we made for Amelia's department were burnt right out because of it! Our OWN sensors that we have as backup for the Aurors were also burnt right out! Right now, everyone in the Ministry's in a huge panic over this." He paused. "But we did get a trace of where it came from." He fixed his host with a look. "It's that place west of Glastonbury that we detect from time to time, but have the devil's own time trying to FIND it when we go look for it!" A sigh. "I know you have your oaths and secrets as well, Hogan. I've long respected that. But this was a little TOO big and people are starting to ask a ton of questions. I don't think you and your friends - whoever they are - can cover THIS one up, my friend."

Hogan nodded as he gazed intently at his friend and old classmate (he and Ian had both graduated from Hogwarts in 1978; they were year-mates of James Potter and his friends, Lily Evans, Severus Snape and Napaeae Collins and her clique). While he could ultimately trust Ian with everything he knew, he knew his friend had superiors he had to answer to who weren't the LEAST bit trustworthy when it came to those secrets. The truth about one particular place near Glastonbury being one of them. "Have any of your people told anyone else in the Ministry about what's out by Glastonbury?"

A shake of the head as Ian smiled. "Not at all, friend. Why do you think we keep all the really interesting stuff just to ourselves?"

Hogan smirked. "Good. That makes this easy. Do you know of Glaston Tore?"

A nod. "Hogwarts, Gryffindor, NEWT class of 1939. Best friend to the Traveller himself. He died in 1981. Just found that out thanks to the early edition of the _Prophet_. It just came out with a very interesting story about the Boy-Who-Lived-And-Vanished actually having a sister who survived You-Know-Who's attack - while still in Lily's womb - thanks to a sacrifice spell Ryūji created called _Desidero Infantis_."

"I've known Rose Potter for well on nine years."

Silence.

Ian gaped. "My God! You mean . . .? It's REAL?"

A nod. "Yes, it's real, my friend. I knew Glaston personally. Like me, he was a servant of the Crown. Atop keeping an eye out on things in Somerset - which was his county of operation, just like old London is mine - for Her Majesty, he also watched over the place where his best friend created the means by which he could return home."

More silence.

"Where he went home . . .?" Ian whispered before gulping down some more whiskey. "We suspected his place of entrance was somewhere close to Scarborough, but . . .!"

"The place became magically unstable sometime in 1937. That's what prompted Ryūji to create something - which is located near Glaston's old home in Somerset - which would allow him to go home finally two years later." Hogan then sighed. "As a gift to all of us, that device - it's called 'the Garden of the Galaxy' - was presented to the Crown and it was directly supervised by Glaston until his death in 1981. As of her birth in 1982, Rose Potter was destined to take his place as the new guardian of the Garden. Thanks to the _Desidero Infantis_, Rose is Glaston's magical heir. But she has to survive to her OWL year first. Until that time, Napaeae Runcorn watches over it." He held up a finger. "THAT must never leave the Hall of Mysteries, Ian. We both know what sort of people runs the Ministry of Magic these days. Do you actually want to see someone like Fudge or Umbridge get control of THAT?"

Ian looked at him, and then he shook his head. "Not a chance. Not with that two-faced bastard Malfoy keeping Fudge swimming in gold, of course!" He sat back in his chair. "Much that he thinks he's powerful, Fudge hasn't got past the illusions that he can rule through magical decree after magical degree. If he wants to get something clear from us, he needs to persuade the Wizengamot to modify the secrecy laws. And we're not so stupid as to allow him a chance to do that. Malfoy and his bastards might have blinded them to what they were doing for You-Know-Who, but they can't get close to us. Too many laws stand in the way of it. And we made DAMN sure that nothing more could be learned after what Augustus nearly did to us!" He sipped his whiskey. "So what happened? Has Rose or Napaeae called you about this?"

A shake of the head. "No, they haven't. No doubt, they're busy celebrating Harry's eleventh birthday right now." With that, Hogan stood up. "Let's give them a floo call and see what's happening there." As Ian watched, Hogan reached for a small bowl of floo powder - the Unspeakable had long ago noticed that Hogan had _two_ such bowls, one on each side of the fireplace - from the right side and tossed the powder into the flames. "Rose Potter!" he called out into the fire.

A second later, a pretty girl's face appeared in the flames which didn't bear any close resemblance to the Girl-Who-Lived (whose pictures Ian had just seen on the copy of the _Daily Prophet_ that had been delivered to his office by his supervisor not a half-hour before everything went mad). "What is it, Dad?" Jane called back.

"Sorry to bother you, Pumpkin, but your Uncle Ian's come by for a visit with some news from the Ministry," Hogan called back as Ian walked over. "Did something happen out at the patio we need to know about right now? I know of that group Chief Director Ragnok was going to host today, but did someone else come by as well?"

Jane giggled. "You might say that, Dad! Just a moment!" She then pulled her head out of the flame for a moment before coming back. "Dad, Rose says it's okay for Uncle Ian to visit! Professor Dumbledore's here, too; they're all here to celebrate Harry's birthday!" Her eyes then focused on Ian. "You better not be drinking, Uncle Ian!" she then scolded as she wagged her finger at the Unspeakable.

Ian winced while Hogan and Veronica laughed . . .

* * *

Beckery Hill, an hour later . . .

"Sweet Merlin! And your grandfather carved all THIS over ONE summer?"

"He did," Chikage said. Ian Boot was now gazing on the runes on the trilithons of the Garden of the Galaxy, notebook and pencil in hand as he sketched some of the script carved in the magically-charged granite. "Needed a Time Turner to do it, of course; one cannot construct something this vast . . . " - She waved her hand around to indicate the entire Garden - " . . . and expect it to function correctly after rushing it to completion. After all of his experiences travelling to other dimensions through the site at the Fair, he realised he needed to create a place that could withstand both the test of time and frequent use." She reached over to trace a finger over one of the runes, which she herself had recognised from what Ryūji had imprinted on the inside walls of the Spiral in Megatōkyō. "I realise your part of Her Majesty's Ministry of Magic is pretty much separate from the other sections, so I believe letting you in on this secret won't be so much of a problem in the long term." She then stared intently at him. "But can you guarantee that others won't be nosing around?"

A nod. "I certainly can, Miss Hirosaki. The members of my department take special oaths that ensure we cannot haphazardly reveal the secrets of what we research on pain of loss of magic and our lives. And while I'm pretty sure what the Minister and his senior staff will conclude if they learn of this place - especially if they find out how much the goblins use this place . . . " - He glanced over to the tent encampment on the south side of the Hill where representatives from Gringotts and the Goms of the _Mundus Magicus_ were currently celebrating the signing of new trade treaties between their Tribes - " . . . to further their own wealth beyond the Ministry's knowledge - well, let's just say it's a good thing they never really cared too much about how someone like your grandfather came to our dimension in the first place." He then sighed. "But that will certainly change once you appear at Hogwarts."

"There shouldn't be any problems," Hogan - who was seated on a bench nearby with Albus - said. "I'll announce Chikage's arrival to Her Majesty tomorrow morning when I see her at Balmoral. I'm sure she'll be happy to release a Magical Proclamation that will declare Chikage her personal guest, which will render her all but immune to anything Fudge or Umbridge might try to think up to hinder her presence here."

"Hogie, they WILL try!" Ian warned as he gazed on his friend. "If they don't do it on their own, it's guaranteed that Malfoy's going to push them into doing it!"

"He can try," Hogan said. "But it's easy to shut him up, Ian."

Ian blinked. "Right . . . "

Chikage then cleared her throat. "Master Unspeakable Boot?"

He tensed on hearing her formal mode of address. "Yes, Miss Hirosaki?"

"Much that I am quite relieved that no one was hurt when those detection devices at the Ministry overloaded because of my abrupt arrival here, I still feel somewhat responsible for the damage I accidentally unleashed on such equipment." With that, Chikage reached into her cape to pull out a slender shaft of crystal to present to him with both hands. "I've been told by the Headmaster that a book containing all the runic and arithmantic calculations concerning dimensional jumping - one prepared by my grandfather before his departure from here, which was gifted to Hogwarts - disappeared under unknown circumstances several years after he left. To that end, please accept this as a small token of my appreciation for your assistance in my Quest." She bowed her head to him before giving him a smile. "Especially your vow of secrecy."

Ian blinked, and then he slipped his notepad into his cloak pocket as he took the shaft of crystal in hand. Immediately, he was quick to sense the power within it. "Dear Merlin, what IS this, anyway?" he asked as he held it close to him.

"It's nicknamed 'meson,'" she answered as she pointed to it. "Properly, it's addressed as 'mesonium.' Chemical symbol '**Ms**,' atomic number 181. It's not native to my Earth, by the way; samples of it came to my world through various means over the last three billion . . . " She then flustered. "Pardon me. I forgot you count things differently here. Meson came to my world through various means over the last three thousand million years from somewhere out in space." A sigh. "It's the only known element in my universe that readily bonds with any type of free gas - oxygen and nitrogen are the most common types - to literally 'grow' new meson atoms. When brought to another dimension, the original 'source' meson will phase back into its native universe within a year, but keeping it in a place with high oxygen output - say, put it in the middle of a group of growing plants - will allow it to grow atoms that will remain in this dimension for you to use. How that happens, no one can say, but there are theories." She held up the back of her hand to show the small linkpoint there. "In my universe, it is often called the 'atom of the mind and soul.'"

"And thus, of magic?"

A nod. "Exactly."

Ian whistled. "My friends will be beside themselves once they see this."

"Just one thing, though."

"Being?"

"It can be crystallised into much denser formats, which can be recognised by the colour of the crystal," Chikage said. "If during your research, it turns a reddish-orange shade, that is safe. That's called 'ruby meson.' Energy output will be between five hundred to a thousand times more than what's normal for 'diamond meson,' which is what you have now." A warning look then crossed her face. "But if it becomes black - entering a state of what we call 'ebony meson' - be VERY careful. It will have the power to influence your very thoughts. It could drive you insane. If that happens, contact me immediately and we'll de-crystallise it back to ruby meson. Alright?"

The Unspeakable nodded. "I'll keep it in mind, Miss Hirosaki."

Chikage nodded in return . . .

* * *

"I must confess, Chikage, you are quite the barterer."

Chikage blinked as she lowered her bottle of butterbeer. She and Albus were relaxing in the community hall. It was getting on in the evening; the hall was mostly empty save for the odd wizard or other magical being enjoying a quiet drink before they would return to their homes and apartments for the night. Elaine Buckshire was standing by the bar waiting for additional orders, though she was conversing with the bartender, a maternal cousin of Glaston Tore's named Michael Aldhelm, who attended Hogwarts a decade before Glaston and Chikage's grandfather. "I have to be one, Professor," she said as Albus took his seat. "While I knew Grandfather left some things for me to use when I came here, I'm starting just as afresh as he did in '32."

"That you are," he agreed. "I just pray that whatever fame which may stem from what Ryūji did while he was here does not come badly to reflect on you."

"Like Harry being the 'boy-who-lived,' you mean?"

A nod. "Something of the same idea."

Chikage considered that for a moment. "I can see your concerns. Part of the reason I'm here - I didn't explain this to Harry, Rose and their friends - is to see if this is a viable thing to do in the future for _my_ descendants." She looked around the room. "My grandfather didn't have a textbook to follow when he came here. No Prime Directive or anything like that to guide or stay his hand. All he had was the basic beliefs that have governed my people for years." She sighed. "It all depended on _giri_. He knew he was forcing himself on others when he came here, thus he had an obligation to do all to ensure the _wa_ of all those around him was, if not simply preserved, as enhanced as possible so that people would be better off when he left them to return home. Bringing news of a strange way of magic. Of aliens. Of interactions with a world chock-full of magical beings for thousands of years. Of metahuman and paranormal powers not influenced by magic . . . " She sipped her butterbeer. "And then asking the staff under your predecessor to teach him _your_ ways of magic so that he could understand how magic could have developed on _his_ world."

"He was always a man with great heart and compassion," he noted.

"He still is that. Sadly, age and experience has eroded all his patience with the way many people do things," she noted. "Perhaps when I get to be his age, I'll be the same way. I best be careful as to what sort of mate I choose to spend the rest of my life with when that time in my life comes." Another sip of the butterbeer. "Well, I'm glad this is happening now. In a few years, there won't be any time."

"He created that tower, did he not?"

A sad nod. "The Spiral? Yes, he did. And condemned himself to die earlier than expected because of it." A sigh. "Well, at least I'll be there for him. A much better thing to do than anything Mother's ever done for him." She shook her head. "Foolish woman. Condemning magic because of what happened to Grandmother."

"How did Yukiko die?"

"It was in childbirth," Chikage replied. "Grandmother wasn't the most healthy of people when she and Grandfather married, but he didn't care in the end. His love for her was too overwhelming to allow 'small trivialities' to haunt his thoughts." She closed her eyes, a single tear flowing down her cheek as she considered that. "And to make such a silly conclusion that Magic itself is what denied her a mother as she was growing up? No." She smirked. "Magic. The Force. The Te'a. The Divine Power. Many names, One Universal Thing beyond our mortal comprehension. To force human beliefs on something that is simply BEYOND human is foolish. Magic is not good nor evil. It simply _IS_. To believe otherwise . . . " She shook her head. "That is the one thing Grandfather learned on his Quest. And while I understand the theory . . . "

"Now it is time for you to EXPERIENCE it."

A nod. "Yes."

Albus smiled as he stood up. "You will do well on your Quest, Chikage. Of that, I have no doubt. In the meantime, I believe Harry and Rose might become worried about you, so I suggest you head back to the Reevetor for the night."

"I will."

She turned back to her butterbeer as the headmaster turned to leave.

"Harry will have to destroy Tom Riddle, won't he?"

Albus stopped, and then he looked back. "Unfortunately so."

"I will help him there."

He blinked. "You don't need to."

"I have to, Professor. It's _giri_, remember?" Chikage mused as she gazed on the headmaster. "All those years ago, Grandfather told Tom one thing: 'Prove them wrong.' **That** part, Grandmother Nicole allowed me to know when I came here, even if I don't know the specifics." A sigh. "What happened ten years ago was **not** what Grandfather had in mind, Professor. And if Tom does come back and tells me that it was because of Grandfather's words that he became what he did . . . " A shake of the head. "That, I will never tolerate. Even if Harry is destined to be the one welding the blade or wand that will take Tom down, I will make sure he knows how to do it."

Albus gazed on her, and then he sighed. "I feel responsible for what Tom became as well, Chikage. I should have taken your grandfather's words and used them to do all I could to protect Tom, to show him that seeking power for power's sake was not the way to be successful in life." He shook his head. "If I could, I would gladly take this accursed burden that Prophecy has forced on Harry's shoulders and shoulder it myself. Not for fame or glory, but to do what is right no matter how hard it is." A sigh. "But Prophecy is a force so strong, it will not be denied, I fear. It will have to be Harry's hand that ends Voldemort once and for all. All we can do is ensure his strike is final and true. And to do it with as minimal amount of casualties as possible."

"So it will be," Chikage vowed . . .

* * *

Balmoral Castle, Thursday 1 August . . .

"Your Majesty, announcing the presence of Your Majesty's Magical Shire Reeve of the Loyal County of London, Sir Xavier Hogan Roper; and Your Majesty's Magical Shire Reeve of the Loyal County of Cheshire, Dame Napaeae Agave Runcorn."

"Thank you. You may go."

The butler bowed, and then he retreated from the room. Hogan bowed to his host while Napaeae curtseyed to her before the Queen beckoned them to nearby chairs. "Good morning, Your Majesty," the former said as everyone sat. "We apologise for disturbing you this morning, ma'am, but we bear most interesting news from Reevetor Somerset."

"Indeed. Will this have something to do with Our Minister for Magic making a very unexpected visit to Our Prime Minister at Downing Street early this morning?"

Both magicals blinked. "Minister Fudge visiting Prime Minister Major? That sounds odd," Napaeae noted. "While I know Minister Bagnold frequently visited Prime Minister Thatcher when they were in office, I've heard Minister Fudge seems to want to do everything to keep all news of the wizarding world secret from Downing Street."

"Which I know of, Napaeae. That made this visit most surprising," the Queen stated. "Mister Fudge . . . " - Both Napaeae and Hogan were quick to sense the tone of disapproval in their Sovereign's voice on her addressing the Minister for Magic without proper title - " . . . came to Number Ten asking if the normal elements of Our Government were aware of a strange event that occurred sometime yesterday afternoon somewhere in the United Kingdom. When the Prime Minister asked for details, Mister Fudge was quite hesitant to say anything, but Director Bones - who was with him on that visit - reported that something happened which disabled all the magical energy sensors in the Ministry that scan the country for things such as underage magic in normal areas and the like. A 'Class Ten' magical event, which she states equalled the energy of a thermonuclear explosive being detonated." She then gazed knowingly at her two guests. "Something tells me you both are aware of what happened."

Hogan smiled. "Indeed we are, ma'am. We can clear this up for you - and the Prime Minister, of course - right away." A sigh. "At 2:28 P.M. yesterday afternoon, the Garden of the Galaxy was witness to the arrival of the Traveller's granddaughter, who has come to our dimension to commence her Magical Quest at Hogwarts."

Silence.

The Queen had expected something from her two Magical Sheriffs.

THAT left her totally speechless.

"Ryūji Hirosaki's granddaughter?" she then gasped.

"Yes, ma'am," Napaeae stated. "With your permission?"

The Queen blinked, and then she nodded. Napaeae then looked over. "Alright!"

The butler appeared, bowing deeply to his Sovereign before announcing, "Your Majesty, announcing the presence of Your Majesty's Magical Shire Reeve (Presumptive) of the Loyal County of Somerset, the Dame Rose Jamie Potter; her elder brother, the Lord Harold James Potter of the Noble and Most Ancient Magical House of Potter of Taunton Deane; and their most honoured guest, the Loyal Servant of His Imperial Majesty, the Heavenly Sovereign of the State of Japan, the Lady Chikage Hirosaki."

The Queen rose as the three children walked in, they then stopping as Rose curtseyed and Harry and Chikage bowed to her. The latter had a beautiful bouquet of flowers with her, which she moved to present to the head-of-state of her host nation. "Your Majesty, a gift from a humble traveller," she said with a bow of her head.

The older woman smiled. "Please make yourself at home, Miss Hirosaki."

Chikage smiled as Rose and Harry came over to join them . . .

* * *

London, 10 Downing Street, later that day . . .

"You wished to see me, Prime Minister?"

"Ah, Director Bones! Do come in, please!" John Major stated as he beckoned Amelia Bones into the reception room of Number Ten. "Would you like some tea?"

"Please," Amelia said as she took her seat. She was quick to notice two other people present: Hogan Roper and Napaeae Runcorn, who both had been reported in the previous day's _Daily Prophet_ as being two of those who, in the summer of 1986, had freed Harry Potter and his relatives from an awful curse forced on Vernon and Petunia Dursley by James Potter on their wedding day in 1978. Nodding pleasantly to them, she then smiled as a servant presented her with a cup of tea. "Thank you."

"We're sorry to have dragged you all the way from under Northumberland Avenue on such a minor triviality, but you came to us early this morning asking for assistance in discerning what happened yesterday with your magical sensory gear," the Prime Minister said. "Sir Xavier and Dame Napaeae are here to give you that explanation so that you may relay it to the necessary authorities in your Ministry for proper action."

Amelia blinked. "You're both knighted?" As the chief law enforcement officer of the British Ministry of Magic, Amelia Bones always strove to do all to understand the workings of the muggle world given how many times the wizarding world interacted with it, especially when it came to muggleborns entering Hogwarts each year.

"We're not members of any of the Orders of Chivalry, Amelia," Hogan stated. "In layman's terms, I'm a Knight Bachelor of the Realm. Nappy here is a Dame Bacheloress. We are loyal servants of the Crown as I'm sure the records - buried somewhere in the Ministry's archive of magical oaths in the Hall of Mysteries - will state."

"As Remus Lupin became five years ago," Amelia noted, her eyes flashing as a look of understanding dawned on her face.

While she personally hadn't approved of the idea of separating Harry Potter from being close to his father's last living best friend - Sirius Black, naturally, no longer made the grade - she was a servant of the Ministry of Magic. When Millicent Bagnold got the news of Remus' Loyal Oath to the Crown from John Dawlish two days after Harry's disappearance from Little Whinging in 1986, she had ranted for well over a week, screaming about how mainstream wizarding society would go insane on hearing that a "dark" creature was close to the Boy-Who-Lived. Ultimately, the Minister had no choice but to go along with it; the magical phrase "_La Reyne le veult_" compelled her to do so even if she had not expected something like that to be used on her.

And ultimately, it hadn't harmed anyone, least of all Harry Potter himself, to say anything of Rose Potter. If they had come to Diagon Alley yesterday whole and intact, Remus had been an outstanding guardian for the children, taking the necessary precautions to ensure Harry and Rose would never be infected with lycanthropy.

"Is Remus Rose Potter's guardian as well?" she asked.

"No. Hamilton St. John is her godfather. Nancy Snagge is her godmother."

Amelia nearly dropped her tea cup on hearing Napaeae's response to that, and then she gasped. "Healer St. John? Nancy? Weren't they . . .?" She then smiled. "Oh, God! That's wonderful! I thought they were both killed by the Death Eaters!"

"They're quite alive and well, Amelia," Hogan said as the Prime Minister found himself grinning at his guest's expression of joy and relief. "Hamilton serves as the chief healer of the magical village where Rose and Harry live - its name is 'Beckery-Under-The-Hill' . . . " - He decided that now wasn't the time to explain what the formal name of that place was, much less its meaning - " . . . and Nancy currently serves as the Chief Constable of the town, along with Remus Lupin and five other Aurors who were forced to retire in the late 1970s thanks to Fenrir Greyback."

Amelia blinked. "And their being werewolves is of no concern?"

"That property has been under the magical charge of Glaston Tore's family for well over several centuries, Amelia," Napaeae explained. That was a flat-out lie, but now wasn't the time to violently rock Amelia's boat with the revelations of what the Magical Shire Reeves were and what they could do. "All wizards and witches who live there have sworn magical Loyal Oaths to the Crown under the supervision of competent witnesses. I was the one who administered Remus' oath, by the way; I was deputised to do so by Her Majesty in 1978, the same year Hogie was." She sighed. "As far as the people living in Beckery-Under-The-Hill are concerned, the Ministry has no business interfering in their lives and dictating who will be their officers of the peace."

Amelia smirked. "Cornelius will disagree. I know Delores will, too."

"Then you best direct both the Minister and the Senior Undersecretary to read over The Magical Pardon and Oath of Loyalty to the Crown Act, Amelia," Hogan explained as all humour disappeared from his face. "It was enacted on 14 March 1703, just to guide you to where you have to go. And by the way, pay special attention to paragraphs 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of that Act. They'll be rather quite illuminating to you."

She nodded. "I'll look at it as soon as I get back to the office. So what, if I may ask, does this have to do with yesterday's events?"

The Prime Minister perked. "If I may, Sir Xavier?"

Hogan smiled, nodding. "By all means, Mister Prime Minister."

The older man sighed. "Yesterday afternoon, a traveller came to our dimension from her own, arriving at Beckery-Under-The-Hill around the time your sensors failed," he said as he watched Amelia's eyes suddenly go wide. "Following in the footsteps of her grandfather in 1932, so I've been told by Sir Xavier and Dame Napaeae. Headmaster Dumbledore at Hogwarts was more than happy to accept her as a first year student at his school in a month's time. Her Majesty received her - her name is Chikage Hirosaki - at Balmoral this morning. She is considered an honoured guest of the Crown during her stay with us and is to be accorded the same status as anyone with diplomatic immunity. Her Majesty has - under Her Prerogative and the provisions of paragraph 2 of that act Sir Xavier referenced - released a Magical Royal Proclamation declaring her desires concerning Miss Hirosaki. She - and we - would hope that you will publicly read that Proclamation to your co-workers on or after Monday, the second of September this year.

"The day after Miss Hirosaki's presence here goes public."

Amelia blinked, her mind nearly shutting down from that sudden onslaught of information, and then she carefully placed her tea cup onto the table. She was surprised that she didn't drop the cup and its contents all over her host's rug. "A Traveller . . .?" she whispered. "Ryūji Hirosaki's own granddaughter . . .?"

"That's right," Napaeae said. "And a very nice girl she is. My daughter Achelois and Hogie's daughter Jane are already becoming good friends with her. Harry and Rose Potter are both pleased to be her hosts while she's here with us." She then gave the Director of the D.M.L.E. a warning look. "Don't let Cornelius make it a political circus, Amelia. Her Majesty will be MOST displeased if that happens."

"It is Her Will, Amelia," Hogan added.

Amelia tensed on hearing that warning, and then she nodded . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	2. Shopping in Diagon

Beckery Hill . . .

"So the negotiations were successful, Chief Director?"

"Oh, indeed they were, Lady Hirosaki," Ragnok said as he sipped his goblin ale. He and his current guest were in a tent that had been set up on the south side of the Hill, though such would soon be dismantled as the goblins who had come out to the Reevewick Somerset to greet their friends from the Gom Nation would return to Gringotts before nightfall. "I suspect your arrival just after Lord Nolli came here might have given both sides added inspiration to resolve all the technical details right away instead of delaying them for a future meeting either here or in Granicus." He then took a deep breath. "There is something I was hoping I could speak to you of."

"Your desire to have your own version of the Garden."

His eyebrow arched, and then he cackled as he gazed on her. "Just like your grandfather! Are all in your family like that, Lady Hirosaki?"

"It is a Japanese trait that I consider quite handy to possess," she replied before sipping her butterbeer. "As it has often been the norm in my culture to keep control over one's public expression of emotions, it became very paramount for people in my society to learn to read even the minutest change in one's facial expression, tone of voice and even the words one uses to speak to another. And while your race is somewhat separated from humanoid norm - and please, I meant no insult by that - your behaviour is quite easy to predict." A sigh. "Chief Director Ragnok, you may inform all of your Tribe this: During my stay here as I continue my Quest, I will be more than pleased to help your people construct your own version of the Garden."

He blinked. "Just like that? No qualifications? No demands?"

A snort. "Chief Director, you are a leader of a community of sentient magical beings with your own long history and a culture that has existed for thousands of years. While I don't understand why Grandfather did not prepare another copy of the rune book he made that would teach anyone how to create a version of the Garden for your kind, I say that - since you ARE putting my grandfather's creation to good use - you should have your own version of it. No more, no less. All I would require to get it completed is time to study my grandfather's work and a piece of property - close to (if not on) one of the ley lines throughout the British Isles would be best - so I can construct the physical structure itself." A sigh. "And since - despite my true age and the fact that I have often been with my grandfather as I was growing up - I need time to learn the basics of magic, both of this dimension and the places I intend to go to during my summer vacations, I regret to say that such a project . . . "

"Will have to wait for some years. I understand," he said, nodding. "When he was alive, Sir Glaston treated our requests to use the Garden as a mere formality. Dame Napaeae - who has served as the temporary Magical Shire Reeve in charge of the Garden after Sir Glaston's death - follows the same path. That will, of course, change in seven years when Dame Rose assumes the post. And from what I sense of her, she would gladly do away with even the basic requests. As that will be the time you graduate and return home, I don't believe it will be a problem, but still . . . "

"It is best to have access to both structures - once the second one is complete - to ensure there can be no interruption of trade between the _Mundus Magicus_ and the _Mundus Vetus_," she finished. "Especially if the Ministry of Magic decides to become nosy about what goes on here. And while I'm sure Master Unspeakable Boot will make sure what he learned earlier today won't get out of the Hall of Mysteries, I was told by Her Majesty that she would ask Achelois' mother and Jane's father to brief the current Director of the Ministry's policing forces about me. From what I understand of British wizarding society from what I can remember of it in my dimension, the D.M.L.E. is often the first victim of budget cuts when the Minister gets into the right mood."

"Which the current one certainly has been in since he was elected to the post last year," he stated. "You'd be amazed at how much goes on concerning him. I can't say anything specific even to you - our secrecy laws, of course - but believe me, I wondered how touched in the head most of the lords and ladies in the Wizengamot are these days. It's blatantly obvious that Riddle never died ten years ago as many believe; if he was dead, his mark on all his fighters would have vanished totally."

A shake of the head. "I honestly wish I could tell you how that could have been possible, but anything concerning Tom Riddle - at least the version of him from my dimension - was specifically erased from my mind before I came here."

Ragnok perked. "May I ask why?"

Chikage sighed. "The company that financed the people who helped restore me, my sisters and others like me, to life is called Toratotaka International L.L.C."

A nod. "A limited liability company. Go on."

"In my universe and time period, it is the single largest financial institution on Earth. It possesses primary controlling interest in sixty percent of the world's banks, credit unions and trust companies, has an overwhelming control over all stock exchanges and is the world's largest private intelligence-gathering organisation, with skills and capabilities that far outstrip even the best government 'alphabet soup' organisation, normal and magical alike." As Ragnok's jaw dropped as his mind began to imagine what such a company was like, Chikage continued, "I can tell you that I do know the International Merchant's Bank of Gringotts in my dimension is formally allied with Toratotaka when it comes to intelligence gathering in the magical spheres on my Earth, but there is no ownership of Gringotts by Toratotaka or vice-versa. Grandmother Nicole and her co-chairwoman, the Lady Nokoko Moroboshi, would never wish to infringe on your counterparts' desire to remain totally independent of any human influence whatsoever."

"My word . . .!" he gasped. "I can't begin to even CONCEIVE of how much POWER such a company could possess! I assume such power is strictly controlled."

A nod. "It is. Toratotaka's primary operational directive - what is called 'Directive Zero;' it's often nicknamed 'the Prime Directive' because of its similarity to what the United Federation of Planets follows - states this: 'Under no circumstances, unless a situation is judged as being so dire that there is no choice but to directly intervene, will anyone within Toratotaka or affiliated to Toratotaka move to influence events in any way, shape or form that would be to the ultimate detriment of those they try to assist, regardless of cost.'" A sigh. "In other words, if I came here with full knowledge of how to deal with Tom Riddle and let it go so that people here could move in and clean it up right away . . . " She then shrugged.

"Who learns the lessons from it?" he finished.

"Exactly."

The chief director of Gringotts in Britain nodded. "More than understandable. And quite forward-thinking of Chairwoman McTavish and Chairwoman Moroboshi. Harsh at times, but life is harsh and all living things evolve best under harsh conditions. I doubt such will happen here for some time; our planet has not been blessed with all the things I remember your grandfather said existed on your world. But perhaps such might change." A sigh. "In the meantime, my people and I have infringed on the Dame Sheriff Potter's hospitality more than enough. We will return to Diagon Alley tonight."

Chikage nodded as she stood. "Give me a week to acclimatise myself to this dimension, and then I'll come to Diagon to discuss Vault 767 with Director Erlking."

"Of course, my dear."

* * *

London, the Ministry of Magic, Friday 2 August . . .

"Tell me everything, Aloysius."

A sigh. "What do you want to know, Amelia?"

Amelia gazed on her cloaked guest. "What does taking this oath mean?"

Aloysius Croaker took a deep breath. "This oath, in and of itself, would seem harmless. All the person taking the oath is doing, when all is said and done, is swearing personal magical fidelity to the British Crown. As you know, the Queen of the muggles is, technically, our head-of-state as well even if, in the end, we are effectively self-governing. That was enshrined in the Preamble of the Separation Act passed by the Wizards' Council in 1692 in response to the signing of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy - it was actually signed by the last Chief Wizard of the Council - in 1689, just before King James II was deposed from the Throne." The Chief Unspeakable of the Department of Mysteries then took another deep breath before he sipped the cup of tea his host had prepared for him when he came to visit. "But I believe that the oath this law mandates has a more interesting implication."

"Being?"

"That once this oath is taken, the Ministry of Magic no longer has any legal rights or any sort of judicial influence over the life of anyone that takes it."

Silence.

"Which means?" Amelia prompted her old classmate.

Aloysius sighed. "It means, Amelia, that . . . " He paused before staring at her. "Say someone in the Ministry - the Senior Undersecretary, for example - wanted to go after Remus Lupin because he now is reported to be acting as Harry Potter's personal magical guardian, all because he's a werewolf." He shrugged. "Remus could turn around and state that Delores would have no authority to mandate a damned thing against him since he - and Harry Potter, too! - have sworn oaths vowing their magic to the service of the Crown. In other words, they acknowledge the Queen as the supreme magical authority in the land and the Ministry would, therefore, have no power or influence of them, especially if it contradicts the Queen's wishes. Thus, the only people who could affect them are the Queen and her 'Magistrates Magical' as it is noted right here." He pointed to the copy of The Magical Pardon and Oath of Loyalty to the Crown Act that he had brought to this meeting in Amelia's office. "And by the way, we know Rose Potter is affected by this. We have the magical record of Lily Potter swearing her own oath to the Crown on New Year's Day in 1982, an oath that she declared would extend to her unborn child at the time; it's down in the archives. Rose herself swore an oath reaffirming her loyalty to the Crown on her fourth birthday."

The Director of the D.M.L.E. gaped as she stared at her guest. "How in Merlin's and Morganna's Eternal Names has this been allowed to go on unnoticed for all this time?" she asked. "I can understand it if some people decide they don't want to live amongst us! I know how bad it can be, especially for the muggleborns that come out of Hogwarts these days! How many people have take this oath and are still alive?"

Aloysius stared at her. "I had a count made of all whose oaths have been recorded and are - by our readings, which are as accurate as the goblins' - alive," he stated. "The total count is 262,786 wizards and witches, regardless of blood, magical power, racial ancestry, or if they possess any form of lycanthropy."

More silence.

"That can't be true!" she gasped. "The last census of wizards and witches taken in 1986 stated there were only 81,484 wizards and witches in the whole of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, squibs included! How in Merlin's name did we miss all THEM?"

"That's the point that I was making, Amelia," he stated. "Look at how the census was taken five years ago. All citizens in all known wizarding villages who pay taxes to the Ministry or who are the legal relatives of same." He pointed to the copy of the act he had brought with him. "Did you know that not a single witch or wizard from Romney Marsh was counted in that census?" As his host's jaw dropped even further, the Chief Unspeakable added, "Not to mention the families of those two that were with you when you met the muggle Prime Minister. Hogan and Veronica Roper swore their oaths to the Crown in 1971, before they began attending Hogwarts. Napaeae Runcorn did it that year as well. Herodotus Runcorn swore his before he began Hogwarts in 1966!"

Amelia gaped. "Then how on Earth did Hero become an Auror? Much less go on to teach D.A.D.A. at Hogwarts a few years ago?" she demanded.

"Because we all are legally and magically ultimately answerable to the Crown, Amelia," Aloysius replied. "Hero's oath to the Queen didn't interfere in his work as an Auror whatsoever unless he was placed in a position where he might have been forced to compromise his loyalty to the Crown." He then sighed. "Furthermore - and this is something that is often forgotten - Hogwarts is legally an independent facility that has existed since before the Wizards' Council was first created. Its independence is legally guarded by Paragraph 15 of the Separation Act. Even now, it's not under the direct administrative control of the Ministry. Hero could be employed there even if he was seen as 'disloyal' to the Ministry and there's nothing the Ministry could have done to stop it. Unless there were known suspicion of criminal activity, which is the ONLY time the Hogwarts Charter DOES permit the Ministry (through your department) to intervene in school affairs." He paused. "By the way, you better know something."

"What?"

"Albus Dumbledore has also sworn an oath to the Crown. He swore his oath five days after Remus Lupin made his oath. That was the day after Harry Potter took his oath." He smiled as Amelia's eyes went very wide. "Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape also took their oaths to the Crown the same day as Albus."

Still more silence.

"Oh, Merlin! If Cornelius learns of this . . .!"

"He couldn't do a thing to change it."

She stared at him. "Remember, Amelia," Aloysius warned her. "This oath cannot make someone a 'traitor' to the Ministry of Magic or the sitting Minister since his official title is '_Her Majesty's Minister for Magic._'" The Director of the D.M.L.E. was quick to sense the emphasis in those words just spoken by the Chief Unspeakable. "Cornelius also answers to the Crown even if he doesn't publicly acknowledge it."

Amelia took that in, and then she nodded. "So there's really no need to worry about this whole thing. Once this Proclamation is made . . . " - She indicated the roll of parchment that Hogan Roper had given her the previous day - " . . . there's nothing Cornelius or anyone in the Ministry could do against Miss Hirosaki."

He nodded. "That's right. In essence, the Young Traveller is the legal equal of any Magical Ambassador. The only ones who would have any right to go after her if she did something wrong are the Crown's Magistrates Magical."

She perked. That had been the second time the Chief Unspeakable had mentioned those people. "And what's their legal basis?" she asked.

"Paragraph 49 of the Separation Act," he replied, and then quoted, "_Their Majesties - in the name of the United Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, for Themselves and Their Heirs and Successors - reserve for Themselves the Sole Right to declare loyal Wizards and Witches to serve as Their Magistrates Magical for times where Their Majesties' Loyal Council of Wizards cannot, for whatever reason, enforce Their Majesties' Laws and Edicts Magical on any part of Their Realms. Under no circumstances will Their Majesties' Loyal Council of Wizards interfere in the choice of who will serve as Their Majesties' Magistrates Magical, nor will any interference in the duties of Their Majesties' Magistrates Magical as mandated by Their Majesties be tolerated whatsoever from Their Majesties' Loyal Council of Wizards._" The Chief Unspeakable took a breath. "And that, Amelia, is what I now strongly think Hogan and Napaeae are. And I believe Glaston Tore was before he died. And what Rose Potter will soon become."

Amelia took that in, and then moved to sip her tea. "A modern version of the Magical Sheriffs, you mean?" Seeing Aloysius nod and smile, she then giggled. "It wouldn't surprise me if that was their actual title, in fact."

"Why don't you ask them?" he wondered, shrugging. "In the end, this is as legal as it comes, Amelia. Fully up and up. Does Cornelius or Delores need to know that?" The Chief Unspeakable shook his head, smiling. "If they don't know, it's not your responsibility to remind them of that fact. It's theirs. After all . . . "

She laughed. "'_Ignorantia Juris Neminem Excusat_,'" she then quoted the official motto of the British Ministry of Magic.

He grinned as he toasted her . . .

* * *

Outside the Leaky Cauldron, Thursday 8 August . . .

"Do you think we beat out all the crowds?" Harry asked.

"It appears we may have," Chikage mused as she adjusted the collar of her white hooded cape. That - the hood was pulled over her head to obscure her face and hair - was now draped over a white hakamashita-style kimono, a pair of red hakama trousers draped over the lower half of her body. Split-toed tabi socks and zōri sandals covered her feet. When Harry and Rose had seen their new friend emerge from the clothier of Beckery Hill - run by a contemporary of Darlene Malkin, Christopher Burberry - draped in the robes of a Shintō shrine miko, they had automatically gone in afterward to get their own versions of it. Fortunately for Harry, Chikage made sure that Christopher had draped the young boy in a proper Japanese men's hakama in lieu of the shrine maiden version Rose would get for herself. "Shall we be off to Gringotts?"

"Let's go. I got to get you your vault key!" Rose insisted.

"Call me when you want to come back," Lilian said from behind them.

All three kids nodded as the human-shaped elf disappeared with a _pop!_ back to Beckery Hill. Harry drew out his Korean cherry-and-phoenix feather wand - he was still trying to teach himself how to use the holly-and-phoenix feather wand he bought the previous week at Ollivander's - to tap the bricks on the wall before him. "Three up . . . and two across . . . " he muttered as he recalled what Rubeus Hagrid had done when he had escorted Harry and his friends into the Alley, and then he smiled as the bricks all began to fold away to form a portal into what lay beyond. "And in we go!"

"Welcome to Diagon Alley!" Rose declared with a dramatic flourish of her hand.

Chikage dryly chuckled as they walked into Diagon, passing Potage's Cauldron Shop to their left and the Slug and Jiggers Apothecary to their right, the alley before them swinging to their left as the stone walkway passed by Quality Quidditch Supplies to the right and Eeylops Owl Emporium to the left. The crowds in the Alley this early in the day were quite small; the three children had decided to come in right after breakfast so they could help Chikage get all her stuff before the crowd of expectant Hogwarts students - including newcomers for the year - would arrive and begin their school shopping in earnest. "Lucky thing Uncle Hogie keeps an eye on things here," Rose then whispered as the three children passed Flourish and Blott's, which was three doors down from Gringotts, clearly not attracting the attention of anyone they passed since the Potter siblings also had cloaks on and hoods drawn over their heads. "If we were here yesterday, we would've had to wait until late in the evening before all the crowds dispersed; it was like EVERYONE came here all at once to get their stuff!"

"Well, the peace and quiet won't last long," Chikage noted.

Harry and Rose nodded as they finally started to ascend the steps to Gringotts. The guards there - different ones, Harry and Rose immediately saw - blinked as the three children came to a stop between their posts and formally bowed, clasping their hands before their hearts. "«_Greetings, noble warriors,_»" the Potter siblings chanted together in Gobbledegook. "«_May all your enemies fall before you and may your victories shower you with gold. May we humble patrons pass and enter?_»"

Both goblins blinked, and then with smiles on their faces, they bowed in return. "«_Dame Sheriff Potter, Lord Potter, Lady Hirosaki, we bid you greetings and welcome to our humble establishment,_»" the one on their right declared. "«_May you always be victorious against your enemies and may your gold always flow. You may pass._»"

"«_Our eternal thanks,_»" Harry said. "«_And our apology as well; our noble visitor from another world does not speak your language._»"

Both guards nodded. "I am sure you'll be pleased to help teach her, Lord Potter," the one on the left said in English. "Be well, all of you."

"Thank you both. Be eternally vigilant," Chikage stated with a smile.

"We always will," both guards stated together, grinning.

With that, they headed inside. Soon enough, they found themselves in front of a familiar teller. "Senior Teller Nagnok, good morning to you," Harry said in English as he, Rose and Chikage came to Nagnok's desk, all three children bowing formally. "May your chests always be full of gold and may your enemies all fall before your blade. We have brought our honoured friend from Japan with us to conduct our trivial business. I would like to access the Potter House vault, Number 108. My sister desires to access her vault, Number 29, so she can get the key to our guest's vault, Number 767."

A chuckle. "I've been told to expect you, Lord Potter. Your business is never a trivial thing here at Gringotts. May your chests always be full of gold and may your enemies all fall before your blade," Nagnok ritually said in English before he gazed on Chikage. "Lady Hirosaki, be welcome here. Your grandfather did us all in Gringotts a great favour we will never forget. Lady Potter, your key, please?"

Rose handed her key over. Nagnok examined it in the box on his desk, and then he nodded. "The key is fine. Griphook!" he then called out. As the young vault guide came up to him, Nagnok handed the key over. "Number Twenty-nine, please."

Griphook smiled. "Certainly, Senior Teller. This way, Lady Potter."

"My thanks, Vault Guide," Rose said as they headed off.

As Harry and Chikage watched them go, a voice then asked from behind them, "Excuse me, but was that Rose Potter? Harry Potter's sister?"

Both turned to see a bushy-haired girl their age standing at the head of the roped-off queue lane. Behind her were two people dressed in normal clothing, who obviously were the girl's parents, even though the girl herself was in a very nice set of robes. They were the only other people present in the bank at this time. "Yes, that's my sister," Harry said as he smiled. "You going to Hogwarts this year, too?"

The girl blinked, her brown eyes suddenly going very wide as she seemed to stare intently at him for a moment, and then her jaw dropped. "Oh, my . . .!" she gasped as she covered her mouth. "Oh, wow!" she then gushed as she pointed at him. "You're Harry Potter!" she then cried out as she came up to him. "I read about you in _Modern Magical History_ and in _The Rise and the Fall of the Dark Arts_ and . . .!"

"Miss! Slow down, please!" Chikage urged. "I don't think the people working here would appreciate you suddenly running out of breath and fainting."

The girl stopped as she stared at the traveller while the older people behind her began to laugh. "Thank you, miss!" the male of the pair said. "Ever since she found out she was magical and was destined for Hogwarts this year, she won't stop talking about everything she learns about this place! It's a miracle whenever we get her to stop talking about it and start concentrating on normal things!"

"Now, Dan, stop saying that! You're just as excited to know that Hermione is about to go off on a grand adventure!" the elder woman added as she stared at her husband. "Especially now that we just found out about my grandfather!"

Harry perked. "Your grandfather's a wizard, ma'am?"

"Actually, he's a squib," Hermione answered, a sad look on her face. "My great-great-grandparents were magical, but they couldn't stand the idea of their only son not ever getting an invitation to Hogwarts. Great-grandpa eventually joined the Army; he served in the Royal Sussex Regiment from the turn of the century until he retired before they amalgamated the regiment into the Queen's Regiment in 1965." She smiled. "It broke his heart; he loved that regiment. Was in every fight they were involved with in both of the World Wars. Started as a private and made his way up to regimental sergeant-major of the Territorial battalion before they forced him out." She nodded towards the main doors. "These days, he spends his time at the Waterloo Club. It's a club for military squibs; it's up Charing Cross Road from the Leaky Cauldron."

"Honourable service for an honourable man," Chikage said.

"Indeed," Nagnok mused.

"What about your great-great-grandparents?" Harry asked.

"Killed in the war against that Grindelwald fellow," Hermione's mother said.

"Miss Granger, I'll be more than pleased to help you here," the teller at the station to Nagnok's left then declared as he smiled at her.

Hermione blinked, and then she smiled as she drew out her key. "My eternal thanks unto you, Junior Teller Gornuk," she said as she clasped her hands before her and bowed her head low to him. "May your chests always be full of gold and may your enemies all fall before your blade," she then ritually greeted.

He bowed in return. "My eternal thanks for your politeness, Miss Granger. And may your vaults always be filled with gold and your enemies fall before you," he said. "If I may assume, you would desire another withdrawal from your vault?" he asked.

"I would. Vault 472, please. There are more books I need to get!"

"No doubt, you're making the people at Flourish and Blott's quite happy," Gornuk stated as he held out his hand. "Your key, Miss Granger?"

She handed him her key. After it had been inspected, he called over a vault guide, a fellow named Bogrod, to guide her into the mines. Watching her, Harry nodded before he looked at Hermione's parents. "Your daughter seems very excited to go."

"She was at first as disbelieving about magic as we were until Professor McGonagall came by to do some demonstrating right after her birthday last September, and then Grandfather visited to tell us of what he remembered of life in the magical world before he was banished from it," Hermione's mother said before she offered her hand. "Oh, I'm sorry! I'm Jean Granger." She then waved to her husband. "This is Hermione's father, Daniel. We're both dentists; we have a clinic in Crawley."

Harry blinked. "Dentists . . .?" he began, and then he flustered. "Oh, healers who concentrate on people's teeth! I'm sorry about that!" He shook Jean's hand, and then Daniel's. "Harry Potter. Pleased to meet you." He then indicated his companion. "This is my friend, Chikage Hirosaki. She'll be going to Hogwarts, too."

Daniel blinked. "'Hirosaki?' That's Japanese, isn't it?"

"It is," Chikage stated.

"I'm back!"

Everyone turned as Rose came back up, Griphook following her. She handed a key to Chikage, who was then waved up to Nagnok's station by Harry. The teller examined the key, and then he nodded. "Everything seems well here. Griphook, please escort the Lady Hirosaki to Vault 767, then take her over to Director Erlking's office for her appointment," he then said as he handed the key to Griphook.

"Of course, Senior Teller."

Chikage headed off with Griphook into the mines, Rose accompanying them. Harry produced his key for Vault 108. Nagnok examined it. "All appears to be well, Lord Potter. I shall have the Ritual Chamber prepared for you when you return. Snedgrace!"

Another vault guide came up. "Yes, Senior Teller?"

"Escort Lord Potter to Vault 108. Once he is done there, take him to the Ritual Chamber."

"Right away, Senior Teller. This way, Lord Potter."

Hermione's parents watched as the young man was escorted away. "He's a lord?" Jane then asked as they shifted out of the queue to stand close to Nagnok's desk.

"He is. His house is ranked a Noble and Most Ancient Magical House, the highest tier in the Wizengamot. Technically, he would be seen as the equivalent of a marquess in the normal peerage system; his style would be 'The Most Honourable the Marquess Harold James of the Noble and Most Ancient Magical House of Potter of the Marquisate of Taunton Deane.' An automatic four-seat vote if he should take his post there. Wizarding law allows anyone who is an orphan to take his family post as soon as they're invited into Hogwarts at age eleven." A sigh. "Rather a pity they passed the laws that forbid magical descendants of squibs to take up their family seat even if they are proven to be fully magical." He glanced at Jane. "Your family, Doctor Granger, was ranked a Noble House - the equal of a barony in the normal system - which is the lowest tier in the Wizengamot, but still, that is a seat which could be claimed. In your daughter's case, her proper style would be 'The Right Honourable the Baroness Hermione Jane of the Noble Magical House of Carter of the Barony of Ifield.'"

Daniel snorted. "From what we've read and seen of this society, that doesn't really surprise me," he stated, crossing his arms. "It's a pity there wasn't an invitation from Beauxbâtons for Hermione to consider before the Hogwarts invite came in last fall. If we could, we'd arrange for Clytemnestra to go there instead."

Nagnok hummed. "You could consider that, Doctor Granger," he advised. "Is your younger daughter learning French?" At both their nods, the goblin then grinned. "All you would have to do is write to the Headmistress of Beauxbâtons before your daughter's eleventh birthday and ask for an invitation. I'm sure they'll be more than pleased to accept her; the French wizards don't have really possess all the prejudices the British have. If you decide to do that, please contact us and we'll help make arrangements."

The elder Grangers hummed. "We'll keep it in mind."

* * *

Cructan's, later . . .

"So will you be taking up your seat at the Wizengamot?"

Harry shook his head. The Family Ring of House Potter was on his right ring finger. "No. I was advised sometime ago to not really bother with it. Most of my friends' parents who could take their seats there don't bother with it. From what we've heard, the Wizengamot really doesn't do anything positive for people." He waved at Hermione, who was sitting with him and her parents in a private booth in the second floor of the coffee shop. "Look at you, Hermione. By all rights, you should be able to take up your family seat there because you're fully magical and descent of a Noble House. The rules of the Wizengamot originally didn't make 'blood purity' . . . " - He made finger quotes on saying that - " . . . an issue. But when they turned around and declared Houses 'dead' because they were producing non-magicals, not realising that the chance was there that a wizard or witch could come in future generations . . . " He shook his head. "It's stupid. I don't really want to bother with it."

"Well, for a blue-blood, you're pretty alright, Harry," Daniel said before sipping his tea; he couldn't stomach coffee at any time of the day.

"I try to be."

"So what happened to you and your sister anyway?" Hermione then asked. "You upped and disappeared on everyone five years ago. No one could trace you down."

A shrug. "After the Dark Dorkbrain . . . " - Harry grinned as Hermione broke out in laughter on hearing that nickname for Voldemort and her parents both looked suitably scandalised (though both were also grinning) - " . . . nearly killed Mom, Aunt Napaeae got her moved to where Grandpa Glaston lived. It's out in the southwest, but I won't say the name since it's magically hidden and Unplottable. That's where Rose was born on Saint Patrick's Day in 1982." He closed his eyes. "That's when Mom died, too." The Grangers remained silent as Harry took a breath, and then took a sip of his coffee. "Rose was raised by Grandpa's house elves and watched over by her godparents. Her godfather's a healer friend of Grandpa's who worked at Saint Mungo's and her godmother was an Auror who got turned into a werewolf during the war."

"That's not allowed," Hermione warned.

Harry smirked. "We all took Loyal Oaths to the Crown, Hermione. Once you take that oath, any law the Wizengamot has passed which would be considered discriminatory in the normal world has no power. No Ministerial decrees, either; since they're not properly legislated laws, they really have no magical power behind them." He winked at her. "Including the prohibition against werewolves being magical guardians."

Hermione's jaw dropped. "Really?"

"I think you better take that oath, 'Mione," Jane warned.

"How do I take it?" the younger Granger asked.

"I'll find out," Harry promised. He knew Rose could administer it, but Hermione was from Crawley, so it might require the Magical Sheriff from West Sussex - a nice lady named Janet Boleyn (a distant relative of the second wife of King Henry VIII) who had served in that position for over three decades - to come to Crawley (or have the Grangers actually go to the Reevetor Westansussex, which was located just outside the county town of Chichester, close to Portsmouth) so the oaths could be taken.

"So tell us about all these beings we've heard so much about," Jane said.

"What do you want to know?" Harry wondered.

"House elves," Hermione prompted.

He hummed. "Well, Rose and I have six of them . . . "

* * *

Madam Malkin's . . .

"Hogwarts?"

"Yes," Chikage answered.

Taking that in, Darlene Malkin nodded in understanding before her eyes fixed on Chikage's kimono and hakama for a second before she gaped. "Oh, my word . . .!" she gasped as she came over from helping a young man with platinum blond hair and grey eyes get fitted for his robes. "Oh, my! Is this from Chris Burberry?" she asked.

Chikage nodded while beside her, Rose grinned. Nearby, Narcissa and Raven Malfoy and Cassiopeia Lestrange - whom Rose automatically had recognised even if she hadn't called out to them; as the young girls did her - blinked in surprise on seeing the matron of Diagon Alley's premier clothiers gush over another clothier's work. "It is. He speaks highly of your work, Madame Malkin. But I do believe the gentleman there would like to get his robes finished before you concentrate on me," she advised, pointing to the young man on the footstool - Raven's brother Draco, Rose knew - with a smile. "It's rather rude to leave a poor fellow there hanging like that."

The older woman blushed before she quickly got back over to helping Draco with his uniform. He stared at the traveller for a moment before nodding his thanks. "Here! I'll handle her," one of Darlene's assistants said as she came up.

Darlene nodded her thanks. "Where are you from, young lady?" Narcissa asked as Chikage was guided onto another footstool to Draco's left.

"Japan. The Kōtō ward of Tōkyō to be exact," Chikage answered as she slipped off her crucifix-embossed cloak and gave it to Rose to hold.

Raven blinked. "Why aren't you going to the Dejima School?" In the universe she was in AND the universe from which she hailed, Chikage knew, the Dejima School of Magic - _Shiritsu Dejima-mahōchūkōtōgakkō_ in Japanese - was the primary wand-magical academy in Japan, located in Nagasaki on the west coast of Kyūshū.

"My grandfather attended Hogwarts," Chikage answered as Darlene's assistant moved to slip a robe over her head. "It's something of a tradition for my family."

"A good tradition to follow," Draco said, nodding. "What house was he?"

"Ravenclaw. What do you hope to be?"

"Slytherin of course," he proclaimed as if it was already a _fait accompli_. "All my family's gone there," he said as he gazed fondly on his mother, who was smiling in return. "What house do you hope to go into?" he then asked.

"Whichever house fits me best. That's how the system works at Hogwarts," she responded. "My grandfather was judged when he went through his Sorting to value intelligence and the willingness to learn above all else, which fits well into the mindset of Ravenclaw. I could go there. Or I could go into Gryffindor because I'm here, presently separated from family and friends, halfway around the world from my land of birth." _Not to mention in another dimension and thirty-nine years back in time_, she mentally added. "Bravery in daring to do something quite new and unique. I could be in Slytherin. Ambition is an honourable trait to possess when used in the right way and I desire to learn everything I can, push whatever limits is set before me." As Draco and Narcissa both nodded in approval, Chikage then shrugged. "Or I could even be in Hufflepuff. I desire to work hard to get where I'm going and be patient as I go there, which is one of the main traits of that house."

Draco hummed. "I never thought of the 'Puffs like that. I always used to think they were such normal people. Nothing special about them whatsoever."

"Don't be so quick to judge, young man," Darlene then said, though there was an amused twinkle in her eyes. "That's MY house you're talking about!"

He jolted, and then flustered. "Sorry!"

"Oh, don't be," the elderly matron said. "I realise that my house has a bad reputation of being the 'house of the castoffs.' Just like your mother's house - and yours if you're sorted that way - is seen as the 'dark house' because You-Know-Who was said to come from there. Every one of the houses has their good and bad points. Be like our young visitor from Japan here." She nodded to Chikage. "She chooses to look on the positive side of things when it comes to her future. You should, too."

Draco nodded, though Chikage was quick to sense that he was just being polite; whatever attitudes he had about any house of Hogwarts other than the one he desired to be part of in less than a month's time were firmly set into his mind. "Do they play quidditch out there?" he then asked as he looked at Chikage. "In Japan, I mean?"

"Some do," she answered as Rose, Raven and Cassiopeia made faces on Draco's mentioning of quidditch. "But I personally never cared for the sport anyway. Rather reckless if you ask me. Flying around on a broom chasing an enchanted magical ball that doesn't wish to be caught." Chikage shook her head. "Never liked it."

"Don't they fly on brooms in Japan?" Cassiopeia asked.

"Some do. Personally, I don't care for brooms either." Chikage then stared at her cloak, which levitated right away from Rose's hands to float in the air.

Everyone gasped on seeing that. "Wicked!" Raven exclaimed.

"Mother, can I have one, too?" Draco asked.

Narcissa was trying her best to pick her jaw up from the floor as she boggled at the sight of a levitating cape. Darlene blinked as she walked over to feel the cloth. "My heavens! This is incredible spell work here! Who made this for you?"

"My grandfather made it for me for my sixth birthday," Chikage answered as she willed the cloak back into Rose's hands. "It's also enspelled to grow as I grow."

Darlene chuckled as she turned back to Draco. "A handy thing to have," she noted. "I even sensed the portkey built into it. Do you know how to charm it?"

Draco's jaw was on the floor now. "It even has a PORTKEY?"

"Of course it does," Chikage answered. "All I have to do is imagine where I'm going and I'm there," she said as Darlene's assistant finished with the robe and then got to work measuring her for uniforms. "A handy thing to have around in this land, especially with the Dark Lord you people had to tolerate a decade ago."

"A handy thing indeed," Narcissa stated, nodding in approval.

"There you are!" Darlene said as she finished up with Draco. "All done."

"Thanks," Draco said as he waited for the owner of Madam Malkin's to pile up the robes and school uniforms for him. "See you on the Express!"

"Have a good day," Chikage stated.

Soon enough, the Malfoys and their cousin had left the store. Rose watched them go, and then she smirked. "I wonder if Rave or Cassi will tell them."

"They're two of the girls you've often dreamt of?" Chikage asked. After Rose nodded, the older girl shrugged as Darlene turned to help get her robes ready. "If they do, they do. If they don't, don't concern yourself with it."

Rose hummed . . .

* * *

"Raven? Cassi?"

Both girls perked. "Yes, Mother?" Raven asked. "What is it?"

"Was that Rose Potter with that girl?" Narcissa asked.

Both girls nodded; fortunately for them, Draco was already smartly walking down the street towards Quality Quiddich Supplies, where Lucius was already waiting so he could guide his son through the new brooms they had on sale. "Yes, Aunt Cissa. That was her," Cassiopeia said. "I don't know the older girl's name, though."

"That's alright, Cassi. We'll probably find that out after your cousin and his year-mates are sorted at the start of the term."

Both girls nodded. As Narcissa went on ahead to join her husband and son, both girls then shared a knowing look. "«_I hated lying to Auntie like that!_»" Cassiopeia hissed in Gobbledegook, which she had "learned" thanks to many dreams she had about one Rose Potter. "«_That girl's none other than Grand-uncle Ryūji's own granddaughter here on her Magical Quest! What do you think'll happen when Uncle finds out?_»"

"«_Father will find out there are certain things money CAN'T buy!_»" Raven replied. While she loved her father dearly, she really couldn't understand some of his more radical opinions, even now, five years after she began to fully comprehend what Lucius - and Cassiopeia's incarcerated parents in Azkaban - had been willing to do before she was born. "«_We know Rose is involved in something that's totally beyond any sort of Ministry influence. And she'll definitely make sure that girl won't be harmed by anything Father pulls, much less anything that doofer Fudge or that disgusting bint Umbridge do!_»" She then gave her cousin a knowing look. "«_Big question is . . . _»"

"«_What will they do afterward?_»" Cassiopeia finished for her.

Raven nodded, and then both perked on hearing someone shout out their names. Both then turned, and then laughed on seeing Ariel Goyle and Charlotte Crabbe coming out of the Slug and Jiggers Apothecary, two doors from Quality Quiddich Supplies . . .

* * *

Once she was done getting her uniforms, Chikage loaded them into her trunk - which was, like the ones Harry and his friends had got a week before, equipped with a built-in shrinking and enlargement charm system that allowed for easier carrying - and then she headed off down the street towards Ollivander's. She had her normal white cloak on, the hood pulled over her head so people wouldn't stare at her too much (not that her kimono and hakama wouldn't attract some attention from passers-by). Rose had the list of supplies the traveller would need - it was actually the list sent with Harry's letter from Hogwarts - in hand. "Okay, we got the books (including all the local history books we can find), robes, trunk, cauldron, phials, telescope and scales, plus stationary and writing materials. You sure you don't want an owl?"

Chikage smirked. "What would I use one for? And would I be able to take one home with me back to Tōkyō when I'm done here?"

Rose blinked, and then she sighed. "Oh. Right . . . forgot. Well, here's Ollivander's," she said on waving towards the wand shop.

They stepped inside. "Good morning," the elderly wand maker said as he came up towards them, and then he paused before smiling. "Miss Potter! You're still a little too early to come here," he said on recognising Rose, and then he blinked.

Chikage then smiled as she slipped off her hood. "Just like your counterpart in _my_ dimension, Craftmaster Ollivander. My grandfather sends his best wishes to you."

Silence.

"Oh, my heavens . . .!" Octavius Ollivander gasped as she gazed on him with a grin, and then he smiled. "Oh, my! Your grandfather? I remember when he came here to get his wand! Thirteen and a quarter inches; elder wood with a dragon heartstring core specifically. Perfect for charms and enchantment, plus durable enough to be used in battle. Actually had to come in after school started; it was quite the ruckus at the Great Hall when he appeared at the Sorting Ceremony like he did. I see he was courteous this time, Miss Hirosaki . . . it IS 'Miss Hirosaki,' isn't it?"

"It is," she said as she handed him a meishi with both hands.

He took it, and then blinked on seeing the kanji there. "'Thousand shadows,'" he translated Chikage's given name; he was an expert in Chinese characters and how they were read in Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Japanese. "A most foreboding name." He paused on noting what was written underneath her name. "'Second Kantō Victims Memorial Association.' What does that mean?" he asked as he placed the card aside, and then moved to get his measuring tape out so he could begin his work.

"Five years ago in my universe, there was a very large earthquake - on a scale that far outstripped what struck the Kantō basin back in 1923 - in and around Tōkyō," Chikage explained as she held out her right hand and he began to work. "Two million deaths in the first hour after the quake struck; I was almost one of them. It also shattered five major ley lines that ran under Tōkyō itself, not to mention created a spiritual and magical sinkhole that, if something WASN'T done, would have resulted in millions of additional deaths in the following years and decades. Grandfather teamed with friends to create a magically-hidden memorial ground and tower that would serve as a new spiritual focal point and allow the ley lines that were destroyed in the quake to mend. 'Second Kantō Victims Memorial Association' is the public name of the group that administers the place in the name of His Imperial Majesty. Grandfather serves as the Grand Magi of the Association and when he passes away, I'll take his place."

An understanding nod. "He was always a determined man," Octavius stated as he finished his measuring, and then moved to scan some of his wares. "Does he still use his original wand or did his lessons in other dimensions turn him away from it?"

"He does for detailed spell work. It's been augmented to ensure it could endure in my dimension by your counterpart," she replied as Rose began to scan various wand supplies. "Your counterpart said that if he was the one who found the wand for Grandfather, that would have been the one he believed would have best matched him."

"As I've always said - and I hope the OTHER me believes it as well! - it is always the wand that chooses the wizard. Or in your case, the witch," he noted as he drew out a box and came over to a table to open it up. "Well, let's try this one here. Beechwood and dragon heartstring, ten inches. Nice and flexible."

Chikage took the wand in hand and swished it around. No response. "It doesn't seem to react to me when I filter my _ki_ through the linkpoint in my hand."

He blinked. "'Linkpoint?'"

She turned her wrist to show the glowing crystal on the back of her hand. He gazed on it, and then he whistled. "Oh, my!" he breathed out. "What is that?"

"It's an alien element from my universe that was placed into this body when it was created for me," she explained, and then she gave him the story behind THAT.

Octavius shuddered as he considered that while taking the beechwood wand back and putting it away. "Being disembodied for FIVE YEARS? Literally having a whole new body - I can sense you're as human as anyone else! - GROWN for you?" He shook his head. "Some in my society would call that a form of necromancy. You best keep quiet about it, Miss Hirosaki. Too many people wouldn't understand." He then drew out another box. "Let's try this one. Maple and phoenix feather, eleven inches."

She took it, and made a swish. "A bit of a reaction," she said.

"Very little, but not quite right," he said as he took it back. "At least your grandfather was able to hone your magical senses," he said as he moved to draw out another box. "Try this one: Ebony and unicorn hair, twelve inches."

Still another failure. As Chikage patiently waited for other wands to come her way, Rose began to shake her head. "This is just as bad as when Harry was getting his wand!" she muttered under her breath as she crossed her arms.

"Don't panic about that, Miss Potter. Tricky customers like Miss Hirosaki and your brother are always a joy for me to deal with. Besides, I always make new wands. There is always a wand here for someone and I haven't failed to match one yet," he assured her. "Let's give this one a try here," he then said as he drew out another box. "Elder and unicorn hair, twelve inches. This might do it."

She took it, and then swished it around. "Not there," she admitted as she gazed on the wand. "The wood feels almost right, but the core's off for me."

Octavius hummed. "There's something I might want to try . . . "

She handed him the wand and he put it back into the box before putting the box away. "These days, I solely use phoenix feathers, dragon heartstrings and unicorn hairs as cores for wands I make," he explained as he headed to the back of his shop. "I find some of the cores other wand makers use to be too temperamental at times. Veela hair, for example. You have Veela in your dimension as I recall."

"They are there," she affirmed as he came back with a dusty box.

"Well, in the beginning when I apprenticed with my father Diogenes after I graduated from Hogwarts in 1912, I was willing to try any sort of combination," he said as he opened the box, revealing a wand stylized with small circular hand guards bracing the ends of a well-carved dark wood handle that, to Chikage, resembled the meson rings that bracketed the Spiral tower back in Megatōkyō. "This one, for example: Yew with thestral mane hair, fourteen inches," he said as he drew it out and handed it over.

She took it, and then blinked as the linkpoint on the back of her hand began to glow as the wand seemed to tremble slightly before it became inundated in a faint shroud of power. Seeing that, Octavius and Rose both gaped before he nodded. "That seems most ironic," he then noted. "Most ironic indeed." As Chikage gazed on him, he added, "Thestrals, Miss Hirosaki, as I'm sure you're aware, can only be seen by those who have witnessed death. Or, in your case, have come close to _experiencing_ it. And while I'm unaware of how the Japanese view yew, in the old ways, it is the wood that is the embodiment of the past. Which your father - and you - now seek to honour."

Chikage nodded. "The Japanese yew is an ornamental plant that is placed around the foundation of a home as a way of bringing beauty and peace to those who live within the home. You also seem them in rock gardens tended to by Zen monastics," she said as she gazed on the wand maker. "And if I'm not terribly mistaken, in the normal side of things here in England, it was the wood of the yew that went into making the bows that the yeomen of the land used to help King Henry V win at Agincourt in 1415."

Octavius chuckled. "Very few in my society ever understand how the muggles look on such things like yew, so I'll take your word for it, Miss Hirosaki." He pointed at her. "When you get home, make sure you get the other me's opinion of this. A wand that fits the more poetic translation of your name quite well."

Rose blinked. "'More poetic translation?'"

"'Eternal shadows,'" Chikage said. "Or as someone once called me . . . " She then smiled as she reached for her coin purse. "'She Who Forever Walks In Shadow.'"

The younger girl blinked. "Oh . . . "

* * *

Time moved ahead . . .

After returning to Beckery Hill, Chikage and Harry began the final preparations for the day they would make the crossing over Loch Eigheach and begin their first year at Hogwarts. Being a gracious host, Harry began to teach his new friend and guest the basics of wand handling and duelling . . . though always before they got started on the fields around the Reevetor, Harry would always hiss out in parseltongue to ensure no poor snake would be the unexpected recipient of a Reductor Curse. Only three times did the normally silent serpents call out to say they were there, though they would also ask their Speaker friend if he could help them find some mice to eat.

During those times, Harry's other female friends would come via floo to the Reevetor to spend time with him and Chikage as they prepared for school. While they were together, Chikage prepared special meson crystals and implant her knowledge of Japanese into them so that all her new friends would be fully fluent in her native language so they could - especially when one factored in (as Remus warned them) how easy rumours could be passed around within the walls of Hogwarts - have conversations that would stay effectively private. As an extra precaution, Chikage helped Aesup prepare language crystals so everyone could also learn the _Kangwŏn-bang'ŏn_ of Korean normally spoken north of the Demilitarized Zone straddling the 38th Parallel that was now seen as the most heavily-armed border on the planet. Chikage didn't participate as she was fluent in the _Sŏul-mal_ version . . . though on hearing it, Aesup complained that the young traveller really had a very weird accent that made her want to laugh.

Once everyone had got the chance to practice up on Nihon-go and Chosŏn-mal/Han'gug-ŏ, they plunged into the textbooks and history books so they could be as prepared as possible for the culture shock of experiencing direct and constant contact with "mainstream" wizards. This often necessitated further trips to Diagon so they could raid Flourish and Blott's for the right source texts. On several occasions, they would bump into a very excited Hermione Granger as she made more trips to the Alley so she could stock up on even MORE magical texts so she could be as prepared as possible for what she, as a "muggleborn," was about to plunge head-first into. On the last trip, Harry convinced his new friend to get her own self-shrinking trunk so that she could be able to carry her growing library with her when she went to Hogwarts. He also arranged to have Janet Boleyn administer Hermione's Loyal Oath to the Crown at the home base of the Magical Sheriff of West Sussex the week before they were to go to Hogwarts.

During those times, Chikage would head through the Leaky Cauldron to visit the many various bookstores on Charing Cross Road so she could get texts on the normal side of recent British history so she could catch up on the fifty-two year gap between the end of her grandfather's time in this universe and the start of her own. And while there were the differences between her own dimension's United Kingdom and this universe's version of it, they weren't too jarring to the young Traveller.

And then finally, on the first Sunday of the new month . . .

* * *

London, King's Cross Station, Sunday 1 September . . .

"And here we are, everyone: Platform Nine and Three-Quarters!"

Harry and Chikage took a moment to absorb their surroundings, and then both focused their attention on the red GWR4900 Hall Class locomotive pulling the tender, ten passenger cars, freight car and caboose behind it. "Antiquated," the latter mused.

Remus chuckled. "Understandable given that you hail from the country that made high speed rail travel so popular and convenient, Chikage," he noted. "We're early today, so why don't you go aboard? Remember, the car closest to the engine is meant for professors. The one after it is for the Head Boy and Girl and the prefects."

"Sure thing, Uncle Moony," Harry said.

He shared an embrace with the werewolf, and then an embrace and a kiss with Lilian. "Have fun, Harry," the elf stated. "Try not to get into too much trouble."

Harry sighed. "I'm keeping what Grandpapa warned in mind, Mama."

A nod. "Always do." Lilian glanced at Chikage. "Watch over him."

"I will do so," Chikage said with a nod. "Harry?"

He nodded, backing away from his guardian as Lilian took Remus' hand and popped away from the platform back to Beckery Hill. With that, he took a deep breath, a chill suddenly surging through him. It was real. No longer would he be simply living his life at Beckery Hill alongside his sister - Harry's eyes were still moist from the crying fit Rose had thrown that morning - the elves that served as surrogate mothers and good friends to them both, the werewolves that were unofficial aunts and uncles to him, and the menagerie of magical beings that were commonplace at the Reevewick Somerset. Now it would just be his friends in a school full of wizards and witches, part and parcel of a society that had far too many imperfections for his liking.

"You didn't have to take that invitation, Harry."

He perked, and then he smiled as he followed Chikage to the Hogwarts Express. "Yeah, you're right. But still . . . " He paused, and then he sighed as he stepped onto the third passenger car. "No. I couldn't refuse the invitation. It's what Dad and Mom would've wanted of me. Besides, if the Dark Dorkhead comes back . . . "

"They will be looking up to you to save them again," she mused as they scanned through some of the empty compartments. "The joys of being a hero to a society of mostly lazy and very selfish people, Harry." She then stopped on reaching one marked with the letter "G" on a placard beside it. "Ah, this one will do. Shall we relax?"

He nodded as they stepped inside and made themselves comfortable. Drawing out her shrunk trunk from her skirt pocket, Chikage tapped the rune that would expand it to full size, and then she opened it to draw a book - Harry quickly noted it was the fourth volume of Winston Churchill's _A History of the English-Speaking Peoples_ - from it before she shrunk down the trunk and put it back into her skirt pocket. As she relaxed and began to read, Harry drew out his own shrunken trunk from his pocket, un-shrank it, and then he drew out Arsenius Jigger's _Magical Drafts and Potions_ so he could scan through it. Severus Snape had warned him on his birthday that Harry would be directly tested in the first Potions class as a way of cementing the potion master's "hatred" of the boy in the eyes of his future charges, so Harry wanted to be prepared.

As time clicked on towards the 11:00 A.M. departure for Hogsmeade, more people made their way onto the train, many lugging heavy - and full-sized, Harry was quick to note with a self-satisfied smirk - trunks behind them or in their arms as they moved to get seats. Soon enough, a familiar face peeked in. "_Oe!_ There you are!" Aesup said as she walked in, moving to sit beside Chikage. "A little light reading?"

"Somewhat," Harry said as he looked up from his book while Aesup took out her own shrunk-down trunk and expanded it so she could get her own book to read. Chikage continued to read, though she was paying attention. "You popped in?"

"Of course," the Korean witch said as she drew a copy of the _Samguk Sagi_ - a reprint dating from the early Chosŏn era, Chikage was quick to notice - from her trunk and then she shrunk it down and slipped it back into her pocket. "Some confusion at the barrier to the normal side of the station. Seems there's someone there actually trying to call out as to where the platform is." She shook her head as she flipped open the beautiful book to where she had left off in it. "Stupid mudbrains!"

"To be expected," Chikage noted. "Harry is known now to be coming here today and there are going to be the sycophants and the attention-seekers."

"I'd love to curse them all," Harry drawled.

"Too many of them," Aesup warned. "You'll need the you-know-what to help out."

He chuckled; they all knew now not to say the word "_Kokujun_" (or any of the related terms) now that they were out among "mainstream" wizards on something of a full-time basis. As they turned back to their books, the door to their compartment opened again. "Oh, hello!" a familiar voice called out. "You're here."

"Hello, Hermione," Chikage said as she looked up from her book, giving Hermione a smile. "Looking for a seat?" She waved to the empty spot beside Harry.

Hermione looked over to Harry. "Do you mind, Harry?"

"Not at all. Make yourself at home."

The bushy-haired girl quickly got into the compartment and sat down. Quickly noting that there were no trunks visible, she then relaxed as she pulled out her own shrunken trunk, putting it on the floor before tapping it to expand it. Soon enough, she had a copy of _Hogwarts: A History_ in her hand as she re-shrunk her trunk and returned it to her skirt pocket. "Are you nervous about going to Hogwarts?"

"Somewhat," Harry replied as he gazed on her, quickly touched by how pretty she looked in the near-noon light. "I'm gonna miss my sister, my guardians and all my friends, though. Are you going to miss your parents?" he asked.

A nod. "And my sister, too. She's shown signs of accidental magic, I think, so she might be coming to Hogwarts in a couple of years, though Mom and Dad are talking about possibly sending her to Beauxbâtons in case things here don't improve."

"That's their choice," Aesup noted, and then she perked as a familiar face appeared at the doorway to their compartment. "Hey, Brie!" she called out.

Brianna leaned into the compartment. "Oh, darn! Filled up already, huh?"

"Pretty much so," Harry said. "Pity we can't expand these compartments."

A laugh. "They'd probably accuse you of starting up your own harem, Harry," Achelois noted as she came up to stand beside her friend. "We got compartments H and I staked out; Sǔ's with us, too," she added as she pointed to her right.

"We might pop by," Harry promised. "Not by the elf way, of course."

Both girls laughed as they headed back to where they were seated. "You sure have a lot of friends," Hermione noted, a touch of envy in her voice.

"You're my friend," he stated.

Hearing that, her cheeks suddenly reddened before she quickly buried herself into the book before her. Noting that, Chikage could only smile and exchange a knowing look with Aesup before turning back to her own book to read . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	3. The Sorting

Soon enough, the Express pulled out of King's Cross and began heading northward into the Midlands. It remained quiet in compartment G as the old steam locomotive chugged its way towards Hogsmeade, though there was the odd shuffling of people heading past the closed doors as they moved to find their own seats or meet up with friends. Every once in a while, an older student would peek into the compartment to see what was going on. Noticing one of them - a beautiful curly-haired girl with the blue and bronze of Ravenclaw on her tie - wearing a badge with "**P**" written on it, Harry simply nodded in greetings; the young lady was a prefect on patrol to keep things quiet. He was quick to see that she was clearly approving of their getting advanced studies.

As she turned to head off, she was joined by a young man her age with the red and gold of Gryffindor on his tie and the prefect badge on his robes. They shared a warm kiss, and then he glanced into the compartment. Nodding on seeing that everyone was reading, he turned before stopping, and then he opened the compartment to look inside. "Excuse me, miss," he politely called out. "But what textbook is that?"

Aesup looked up. "It's not a textbook, _Sŏnbae-nim_," she said as she marked her place and held up the book for his inspection. "It's a history book from Korea."

He perked. "Korea?" Recognition then dawned on his face. "Oh! You must be Yongjang Mun's sister Aesup!" He held out his hand. "Percival Weasley. You can call me 'Percy.'" He then waved to his companion. "My girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater." He then winced on seeing her give him a look, and then he chuckled as he turned back to Aesup. "I knew your brother quite well; he was a prefect in Ravenclaw."

"_Oppa_ told me a lot about you as well, _Sŏnbae-nim_," Aesup said as she gently took his hand in her own. "He really admires your work and study ethic. He actually once wondered if there was some Korean in your ancestry."

Percy felt his cheeks flame. "And I admired his as well, Aesup." Everyone was quick to notice him extending the second vowel, making her name sound very much like "Ae-soup." "What's he planning to do now that he's graduated?"

"He's studying house elf behaviour on behalf of a friend of my father's," Aesup replied. "He's Hogan Roper. His daughter Jane's in my year."

Penelope perked. "Jane Roper?" She then blinked before her eyes snapped over to the only other boy in the room. "Oh, Merlin! I don't believe it!"

Percy looked at her. "What is it, Penny?"

A squeal then escaped her. "_You're Harry Potter!_"

Harry jolted, and then he tried not to moan before rubbing the side of his face. Beside him, Hermione could only shake her head. "Miss, was that really necessary?"

"We should be careful," Chikage dryly noted. "The _otaku_ are coming."

Penelope blinked, surprise crossing her face as her mind registered Hermione's comment. Percy stared at the traveller. "'_Otaku_?' What language is that?"

"Japanese," she answered. "It means 'fanatic.'" The older students were quick to note the derision in Chikage's voice as she said that. She had noticed right away that Penelope actually winced on her stating the translation. "And I sincerely doubt that Harry wishes to put up to people like her at this time. So, with your permission, _Weasley-sempai_, I would like to put this on the door to prevent people from barging in here uninvited." She held up an ofuda for Percy's perusal.

The prefect stared at it, quickly sensing that the magic on the enchanted paper was a simple locking charm, and then he nodded. "By all means do so," he said before turning back to Harry. "Mister Potter, I do apologise for my girlfriend's unseemly outburst." As Harry gazed on him, the prefect smiled. "Still, please understand that there are many of us in society today that are grateful for your actions years ago."

Harry took a deep breath. "With all due respect, Prefect Weasley, give the credit for what happened to the Dark Dorkhead . . . " - He ignored the older students' dropped jaws on his saying that - " . . . on the one who was responsible for it: My late mother. It is _she_ you should be thanking for what happened that night, not me. I refuse to listen to _anyone_, regardless of age, that constantly wants to credit ME for something **I** couldn't have done given how young I was at the time. It's an insult to my mother's memory and I, for one, will not tolerate it."

Percy blinked, and then he smiled in approval, nodding in understanding. "Well said, sir. And I sincerely apologise; I meant no disrespect to your mother's memory, of course. Did the Ministry recognise that? I don't actually recall . . . "

"No, they did not. No doubt it was because she was - to make use of a very particularly disgusting phrase for it - a 'mudblood.'"

The older student hummed. "I myself disapprove of that phrase, too, Mister Potter. And yes, I have noticed that prejudice towards muggleborns as well."

Harry sighed. "I'm sorry, Prefect. I don't like _that_ term myself. As does my current companion here, seeing that she would be seen as one." He indicated Hermione with a wave of his hand. "If you must, call people like them 'normal-born.'"

"You don't like the word 'muggle?'" Penelope asked.

"No, _Miss_ Clearwater," Harry replied, his eyes narrowed. Penelope was quick to sense his emphasis on the word "miss." "As the doctor who helped free my relatives from my father's stupid and thoughtless prank five years ago said it, 'muggle' is far too close to 'mugger' in my mind to be comfortable with. That's what some people in America call a street criminal, by the way," he added on seeing the older students' questioning looks. "I refuse to use the term and my friends follow suit."

Percy took that in, and then he nodded. "You're a man of conviction, Mister Potter. I'm sure you'll fit well into Gryffindor when you get sorted. I look forward to that. In the meantime, we'll be going." He gazed on the others. "Since you're all dressed and ready to go into school when we arrive, I don't need to remind you to be in uniforms when we get to Hogsmeade. In the meantime, we'll leave you be. Penny?"

Penelope nodded as she gave Harry an apologetic look before they stepped out of the compartment. As soon as the door latch locked in, Chikage whispered something before flinging the ofuda onto the door. The enchanted charm latched on right away, sending an energy wave over the door to seal it. "There. We'll be left alone."

"Except for the knocking," Aesup warned.

"I took care of that as well," Chikage advised.

"Isn't that wrong?"

Eyes locked on Hermione. "What do you mean?" Chikage asked.

"Using something like that?" she asked as she nodded to the door.

"It's wandless magic, which cannot be tracked by the Ministry of Magic," Chikage said. "Besides, a person in authority - Mister Weasley, to be precise - took note of it and approved, understanding WHY it was being used. What's the objection?"

"But it's not British magic."

"Hermione, I'm not _Eikoku-jin_," Chikage said as she allowed an accent to slip into her normally accent-less voice. "I'm _Nihon-jin_. I can't be expected to adapt to _all_ the local ways of doing magic _this_ early in the game. Agreed?"

Hermione blinked, and then she giggled. "True . . . "

* * *

"YOU MET HARRY POTTER?"

"Yes, I did, Ronald. What of it?"

"WHERE IS HE?"

Percy blinked. "Why are you asking?" he wondered as he glared at his youngest brother. "Is it because of what Mother advised you to do back at the house?"

Hearing that, Ronald Weasley tensed, and then he shrugged. "Well, it only makes sense, Perce! He's been gone for years! No one knows WHAT'S he been going through! He needs friends here! You actually want a berk like Draco Malfoy to meet the guy?"

Percy tried not to roll his eyes. He himself had been very surprised by Molly's instructions to his youngest brother before they left Ottery Saint Catchpole early that morning to get to King's Cross Station so the younger Weasley brothers could head off to school. "Ronald, Mister Potter doesn't particularly care for the fame a lot of people have heaped over him over what happened ten years ago. As a matter of fact, he looks upon his late mother as the TRUE hero of that night, not him. Even more so, he finds it rather disgusting that the Ministry refused to recognise her sacrifice because she was muggleborn. He's not in the mood to tolerate the presence of would-be fanatics like Ginevra is becoming and I won't tolerate you being part of it."

Ron gaped as his mind threatened to crash from his brother's harsh words, and then he shook his head. "Does he have the scar at least?" he demanded.

Percy felt his jaw drop as shock crossed his face. Even Fred and George - who were sharing the compartment with their youngest brother and their best friend, Lee Jordan - were surprised by Ron's mad desire to meet up with the Boy-Who-Lived-And-Vanished. "Ronald Bilius Weasley! What does THAT have to do with anything?" Percy demanded, his sharp voice making Ron nearly jolt to attention. "I'm sure Mister Potter is just as annoyed at people asking to see that scar as he would be annoyed at their asking him what his memories were of that night! He was only fifteen months old! Don't bother him about it!" he snapped. "And don't bother him on the train ride. His compartment door's been sealed so he can be left alone. You'll have time to get to know him - and know him _properly_! - when we get to school."

With that, the prefect turned and headed off on his rounds. Ron stood there, his mouth opening and closing in shock as he tried to figure out what just happened. Fred, George and Lee all gazed at him, and then they exchanged knowing looks . . .

* * *

Just before the Express left King's Cross, Achelois and Brianna had been joined in compartment H by Pansy Parkinson, a black-haired, brown-eyed girl with a face that seemed at a distance to be scrunched up like a pug's; as well as Tracey Davis, a taller, tomboyish girl with brown eyes and dark brown hair in a high ponytail. Pansy and Achelois were acquainted; the former's parents, Malcolm and Gruoch, had been year-mates of the latter's mother Napaeae at Hogwarts. Tracey was one of Pansy's two best friends; the other one being Daphne Greengrass, who was currently sharing the neighbouring compartment I with Camellia, Marian and Jane. Sǔ Lì had met up with a friend of the family now in her second year at school as a Ravenclaw, Qiū Zhāng (who was commonly addressed by a very faulty transliteration of her name, "Cho Chang"), and had gone off to join her and her housemates Marietta Edgecombe and Eddie Carmichael.

After the exchange of normal pleasantries - Achelois had been quick to sense that Pansy had been nervous about something when she had come into the compartment - things had quieted down as she and Brianna got books out and began to read. Pansy and Tracey had - once they got over the surprise on seeing that the other girls had self-shrinking trunks with them - been quick to sense that their current companions wished to be left alone, so they quietly began conversing with each other. Every once in a while, prefects on patrol would peek into their compartment to ensure all was well.

Two hours into the journey, that changed.

"Has anyone seen Harry Potter?"

Achelois looked up from her book to see a boy with platinum-blond hair and grey eyes at the doorway, the clothes under his cloak expensive and tailor-fit for him. Behind him were two boys the same age, both looking thuggish and portly, one being a boy with buzz-cut brown hair and dark brown eyes, the other with brown hair styled in a bowl-cut and dark blue eyes. Quickly recognising who all three of them were, she moved to answer when Pansy spoke up, "I think he's next door, Drake."

Draco Malfoy blinked, and then he smiled. Gazing on the other girl, Achelois was quick to see a vapid look on her face. "Thanks, Pans. Excuse us."

The door closed behind him. Achelois watched him leave, and she turned back to her book, though her eyes briefly fell on Pansy for a moment. She was quick to see a flash of annoyance on the brunette girl's face before she returned back to what seemed to pass for her "normal" self and she began speaking again with Tracey. _Isn't that odd?_ she mused to herself as she turned her attention back to her book . . .

. . . and then she perked on hearing thumping from outside, followed by a grunt and Draco's voice calling out, "What's wrong with this damned door?"

Putting her book aside, Achelois got up and looked into the hallway to see Draco now trying to yank open the door to compartment G. His two companions looked lost and confused as Draco continued to pull at the handle, getting nowhere with it. "What's wrong?" she asked, he voice neutral and guarded as she crossed her arms.

Draco jolted, and then he waved at the door. "The door won't open!"

Achelois hummed as she walked over to join them, and then she knocked at the door. Inside, the boys were quick to see the four people inside perk and look over; none of them had reacted when Draco began to pull and yank of the doorway minutes before. "Who is it?" Harry's voice called out from inside the compartment.

"It's me, Harry!" Achelois said. "You have more would-be worshippers here!"

"Who exactly, Achelois?"

"Draco Malfoy, Vince Crabbe and Greg Goyle!"

Draco and his friends looked surprised as they stared wide-eyed at her. None of them had met this strange brown-haired girl before, so how did she know of them? "No, thanks!" Harry called back. Draco was quick to see the look on the dark-haired boy's face. "Don't have time to deal with the sons of the Dark Dingbat's arse-lickers!"

A shrug. "Suit yourself!" she called out before heading back to her seat.

Draco watched her go, his jaw now hanging around his knees. "Uh, what are you going to do, Drake?" Vincent then asked as he and Gregory gazed on their friend.

Draco blinked before he turned and marched back to compartment H to look inside. "You!" he said as he pointed at Achelois. "How do you know Harry Potter?"

She looked up, an eyebrow arching. "What business is it of yours?"

Pansy and Tracey paused as they looked over, both now paying close attention to the confrontation between their two year-mates. Quick to sense Achelois' icy tones, Draco relaxed himself, lowering his arm. "Because I want to make sure Harry is guided properly back into our society," he calmly replied. "I can guess he knows of our fathers' being forced to fight for the Dark Lord, but he needs to know the truth."

A sigh. "Well, that'll be very hard to explain to him, Draco," Achelois warned. "He's been told ever since he started living with his sister five years ago that your father - as well as your friends' fathers . . . " - She nodded towards Vincent and Gregory in emphasis - " . . . all lied and bought their way out of Azkaban when they got caught with the mark of that half-blood bastard child of a squib and a norm people are too afraid of saying the name of." As Draco, Vincent and Gregory gaped at her and Pansy's and Tracey's eyes went wide, Achelois added, "So anyone that's related to them are not to be trusted." She shook her head. "Sorry about that, Draco, but I doubt you'll get anywhere with Harry these days. He actually LAUGHED when he heard what happened to Lilith Mulciber a couple months ago. No doubt, he's hoping that your dads will also wind up nailed to a cross in Knockturn. I'd give up if I were you."

Draco blinked as he took that in, and then he sighed. "Pity. Even if he is a half-blood, he has potential. Well, it's his fault if he suffers the same fate as his parents." A shrug. "Oh, well. Sorry to bother you about that."

"Oh, Draco."

He looked over to Brianna. "You better think of this," the other girl warned. "Harry might think the same thing about your dad, not to mention _you_."

Draco took that in, and then he nodded as he headed off, followed by his two companions. As the door slid closed again, Brianna and Achelois shared a look, and then turned back to their books. Pansy and Tracey stared at them for a moment before they turned back to gaze on each other as they continued to talk . . .

* * *

Hours passed and eventually, the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade Station on the southeast side of Loch Eigheach. As a voice announced that they had arrived and that people were to leave their trunks in the train so they could be transported to the castle, the people in compartment G stood and moved to straighten their clothes. "Do we leave our trunks here?" Hermione asked as she held her shrunken trunk in her hand.

"Keep it with you," Aesup said as she put her book away in her trunk, and then re-shrunk it for stowage in her skirt pocket. "It's less work for the house elves."

Hermione blinked, and then she nodded as she closed her copy of _Hogwarts: A History_ and moved to secure that in her own trunk before shrinking it and slipping it into her pocket. Harry did the same with his book but Chikage was still keeping her own book in the open, though she did mark her place in it and closed it up. She then removed the ofuda from the door and opened it, allowing everyone to step out and head into the hallway, falling into line as people headed to the doors to disembark.

"Trevor? Where's my toad?" a voice called out. "Has anyone seen my toad?"

Harry perked, and then he looked back to see a pudgy, childish looking boy with dark blond hair and dark brown eyes looking around. Blinking as he then remembered his sister's description of her five "dream friends" and their relatives, he walked over, a smile on his face. "You're Neville Longbottom, aren't you?" he called out.

Neville jolted, and then he looked back. "Who are . . .?" he began before his jaw dropped. "No way!" he gasped, and then he smiled. "Harry Potter, I presume."

Harry's hand went out, which Neville took. "The same. Allow me." With that, he drew his cherry wand from under his cloak and called out, "_Accio_ Trevor!"

Neville spun around just as a terrified squealing croak filled the air, and the he blinked as a certain dark brown frog landed in his hands. "Trevor!" he gasped as his hands moved to keep the frog in place, and then he smiled at Harry. "Thanks!"

"Anytime! C'mon, let's get out of here!"

Neville nodded as he moved to follow, and then he yelped as he tripped over his feet, falling flat on his face. As people around him began to laugh and giggle, Harry shook his head as he leaned down to gently snare Trevor before he could leap away. "Better watch where you're going, Neville," he said as he reached over to help Neville back to his feet. "You don't want to keep dropping your toad anywhere."

An embarrassed chuckle. "Good point," Neville muttered as he took Trevor back.

They stepped off the train just in time to hear a booming voice call out, "FIRST YEARS! FIRST YEARS, OVER HERE! FIRST YEARS, OVER HERE!"

"Hello, Grand-uncle!" Harry called out as he and Neville headed over to join the crowd now forming up around the half-giant groundskeeper.

Rubeus Hagrid's eyes brightened on hearing that voice. "Ye alright, Harry?"

"I'm fine. Just helping Neville here with his toad."

A laugh. "Good for ye, lad! Everyone here now?" he then called out to the others as he did a quick mental count of the people around them. "Alright, then!" he said after a satisfied nod. "Ye all follow me. Mind your step as we go down!"

He guided them down a pathway towards the lake behind the station . . .

* * *

As the first years later walked up the stairs from the boat dock on the north shore of Loch Eigheach - the "Hogwarts Lake" as it was referred to locally - to the patio surrounding the western side of the castle proper, Harry remained close to his friends while his eyes took in the magnificent surroundings around them. While he had long become used to living in a place that had been influenced by wizards and other magical beings, he found the Castle of Hogwarts itself overwhelming when comparing it to the simple home he had lived in during the last five years on Beckery Hill. As he thought of how different Hogwarts was from the Reevetor Somerset, he then perked on hearing Hermione explain some things to several others, all of them appearing to be normal-borns given the overwhelmed looks on their faces as they took in all that was around them: " . . . the side of the castle to the east of the creek is original construction; it dates from 925. This side of it - the dorms and the dining area - was added about three hundred years later when school enrolment expanded . . . "

Harry smirked as he turned back his attention to Hagrid, who - after a quiet trip across the lake from the landing near Hogsmeade Station - was guiding his charges onto the patio surrounding the Great Hall, which (as Harry knew thanks to Remus and Lilian; and as Hermione was now explaining to her companions) was where everyone came together for meals and school-wide meetings such as evening balls and tests. Guiding the forty-two first year students to form a queue by a large double set of doors, the groundskeeper then called out towards Neville Longbottom, "Hey, you there!" As the young Bournemouth native looked over, Hagrid smiled. "Still got your toad, lad?"

Neville grinned as he nodded, clutching Trevor close to him; Hagrid had found the toad on the boat Neville had been seated in when they had made their landing. With that, the gamekeeper turned and knocked three times on one of the doors before them. The doors soon swung open, revealing a very stern-looking Minerva McGonagall. As soon as she stepped into the light of the outside torches, Hagrid bowed his head.

"The first years, Professor McGonagall," he stated.

A nod. "Thank you, Rubeus. I will take them from here."

Everyone then filed into a reception hall with a wide set of stairs leading to a raised floor before a single set of doors. As soon as the last people had shuffled inside, Hagrid closed the door behind them, and then he headed off through a side door into the main part of the castle. Everyone watched him go, and then they turned their attention to the transfiguration mistress. "Welcome to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," she began as she gazed on each of them. "The start-of-year banquet will begin in the Great Hall shortly, but before we can enjoy the wonderful evening meal now waiting for us, all of you will have to be sorted into your Houses. This is an important ceremony, as the Sorting will determine the 'school family' you will possess during your years here. You will have classes with your housemates, share a dormitory with them and spend your free time in your House common rooms.

"The four Houses of Hogwarts are named after the school's founders: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. Each house possesses a long, noble history, producing generation after generation of outstanding wizards and witches. While you are here, your triumphs in everything you do - academically, in sports and socially - will earn you house points, which eventually goes into determining the yearly winner of the House Cup for the most successful house." Her voice then turned frigid as she gazed intently at them. "Be warned of this: Any sort of rule-breaking will lose those very points you will seek to earn and could risk your House's chances of winning the Cup for this school year." Minerva then smiled. "I know each and every one of you will be a credit to whichever House you are sorted into. The Sorting Ceremony will commence in a few minutes." Her gaze sharpened as she took note of Neville's cape fastened on his left shoulder and the smudge on Ron's nose. Sensing her disapproval, they quickly straightened themselves around. "I shall return for you when we're ready. Please remain here and remain quiet."

With that, she turned and walked through the door into the Great Hall. Harry took a deep breath before sensing Aesup's hand gently grasp his own while his other friends moved closer to him. "«_You have any idea what this is about?_»" he asked in Korean, which caused a lot of people to stare at him. "«_How DO we get sorted?_»"

A shrug. "«_To be honest, Harry-ya, I couldn't tell you. My parents never went to this school. Oppa never told me a thing. Anyone?_»" Aesup called out to the others.

"«_All my parents told me was to don't panic about it_,»" Camellia said.

"«_Mine said the same thing_,»" Brianna added.

Nods of agreement from Achelois, Jane and Marian. "«_What about you, Chikage-ya?_»" Achelois then asked as she gazed on their new friend.

A cryptic smile crossed the traveller's face. "«_I'm not spoiling the surprise for you all, Achelois_,»" she answered as she looked up from her book. "«_All I will say is that when you are Sorted, make sure you say hello to Sir Alastair._»"

Jaws dropped. "You _KNOW?_" Jane hissed in English.

"Yes, I do. Grandfather told me about it."

"Can you tell us?" Ron demanded.

Chikage blinked, and then her smile broadened slightly. "Now, that . . . "

Everyone tensed.

"Is a secret," she finished.

Jaws dropped and some people staggered, though some of the normal-borns found themselves grinning on sensing the joke in Chikage's words. "Ah, c'mon!" Ron pleaded as he clasped his hands in prayer. "My brother Fred told me it hurts a lot!"

A shake of the head, her smile remaining in place. "Oh, be assured. It doesn't hurt at all." Chikage then perked before she looked over to her right, and then she turned and deeply bowed. "Brother Simon. Sir Nicholas. Lady Helena. Lord Ælfweard. A pleasure to meet you all at last. My grandfather would be pleased to know your kind and noble spirits still remain within these hallowed halls."

Gasps and squeals of shock echoed from all around her as people noted that they had just been joined by a dozen ghosts. As people gaped on the spectres around them, four moved closer to Chikage. "You know my name, good lady?" a man in the robes of a nobleman from the Anglo-Saxon era - bloodstained robes, many of those watching this curious conversation noted, which marked him as the "house ghost" for Slytherin (as Hermione was telling others), the Bloody Baron - asked as he stared intently at her.

"I do," she said with a nod. "You are Ælfweard Cerdic of Ethandun, born of the blood of the Royal House of Wessex, the first wizard in your family to attend Hogwarts shortly after its founding in 925. You also were the first ever Free Wizard Apprentice of Hogwarts, training under Master Salazar himself. After you left the school, you were promoted to the rank of earl and made head of your clan by the edict of King Æthelstan." Chikage shook her head. "Though I will never begin to understand why on Earth you wound up being called 'the Bloody Baron' in the wake of your passing from your mortal shell." A tsking sound escaped her. "Most disrespectful indeed."

"Wow!" Hermione gasped. "Your grandfather sure told you a lot, Chikage!"

Chikage smiled. "He felt it was only right for me to be prepared."

"Lucky you," Pansy dryly noted.

Hearing the normal-born girl's words, all the ghosts perked, and then they stared intently at the traveller before many jaws dropped as looks of surprise and delight crossed their faces. "Oh, my!" the Hufflepuff house ghost known as the "Fat Friar" - Chikage knew his real name was Simon Ayles, one of the few magicals ever to serve as a member of the Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel - then gasped. "Oh, MY! So THAT'S what we all sensed a month ago! Oh, my! Oh, my!"

"That's enough, Friar Simon!" Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington - "Nearly-Headless Nick" as he was nicknamed; he served as Gryffindor's house ghost - scolded, though there was a delighted smile on his face. "Let's not spoil the surprise!"

"Indeed, we should not," the Grey Lady - Helena Ravenclaw - added, which surprised many of the magically-raised first years in the room as it was normally believed that the Ravenclaw house ghost was the most quiet one in the castle. "I look forward to you joining my house when it comes your time to be sorted, Lady Chikage."

Chikage smiled. "As it is said in French, Lady Helena: _Ce qui sera, sera_."

"'Whatever shall be, will be,'" a handsome dark-skinned boy said as he walked up to stand beside Chikage, an appraising look on his face. "You strike me as a true polyglot, Chikage." He held out his hand. "Blaise Zabini."

"A pleasure, Blaise," Chikage said as she shook the offered hand, slipping her book under her cape. "«_You're Italian, are you not?_»" she then asked in that language.

His jaw dropped in shocked surprise, and then he laughed. "«_On my mother's side. My late father was English_,»" he responded in kind as other ghosts seemed to drift around them, their year-mates - even Harry and his friends - all gaping in shock as they conversed. "«_That's an odd accent you have. Where did you learn it?_»"

"«_On my back with my grandfather magically force-feeding it into my mind when I was younger_,»" Chikage replied, which made Blaise laugh in understanding sympathy as he crossed his arms. "«_I currently live in a very international city and he felt it was only right for me to be able to converse with as many people as possible._»"

"«_Where's that?_»"

"Tōkyō."

Blaise perked. "You're Japanese?" he asked in English. "I always heard that the Japanese - at least the wizarding Japanese - are quite homogenous."

"They are, but I deal mostly with normals. And the part of Tōkyō I live in is a large trading area close to the ocean. Sailors from around the world are around there all the time, so Grandfather felt it was only right for me to learn their languages."

"Why do you deal with muggles all the time?" Draco then asked, a faint look of disgust on his face. "Don't you live in a pure wizarding town?"

"No, I don't."

"Why not?" Vincent asked.

Chikage gave them a cool look and a light smile. "Simply because in Japan, we don't fear normals like many here in Europe do."

Before anyone could say anything more, the doors then opened to reveal Minerva McGonagall. People quickly gazed on her as she waved them inside. "Everyone, you may come in now. The Sorting Ceremony is about to begin. Form a line, please."

People quickly shuffled into the Great Hall. As gasps of awe and disbelief escaped many of the first year students - even the purebloods in the group - Chikage fell back to the end of the line. They followed the transfiguration mistress between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables - easy to tell who was what by the colours on the older students' uniforms - to the head of the room, forming a line in front of the head table as they faced their new peers. The candlelight reflecting on the silverware and goblets on the tables and the many torches lining the walls of the Hall illuminated the expectant faces of the people awaiting them, which even made Hermione Granger fall silent. Overhead, the enchanted ceiling was showing a starry night, which added more to the magic of the moment as everyone got into place. Once there, Minerva walked over to place a stool before them, and then she placed a pointed witch's hat on it.

Everyone blinked in confusion . . . and then many jaws dropped in shock as a set of black eyes and a ripped mouth appeared on the hat as it began to sing:

_Oh you may not think me pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!_

Applause then broke out from the students and staff as Minerva then took her position beside the stool, a roll of parchment in hand. "When I call your name out, please take the Sorting Hat and place it on your head so you can be sorted," she announced before taking a deep breath. "Abbott, Hannah!"

A cheery blue-eyed girl in blonde ponytails took her place under the Hat, facing the older students. Almost - or so people seemed to believe - as soon as the ancient felt touched her forehead, the Hat then shouted out, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Cheers from the table to Hannah's right as Harry and his friends applauded. She drew off the Hat, handed it to Minerva, and then headed over to take her seat. People were quick to notice her uniform tie had taken on the yellow-and-black striping of her new house; the badger insignia of Hufflepuff now adored the outside of her cape. As soon as she was down, immediately shaking the hands of those who were at the table, Minerva turned back to the line of new students. "Bones, Susan!"

A chestnut brown-haired girl with her hair in French braids and dark green eyes took her place under the Hat. "HUFFLEPUFF!" the Hat called out after a quick pause.

More cheers from the Hufflepuffs as Susan took her place. "Boot, Terry!" Minerva called out, this time summoning a blue-eyed boy with dark brown hair.

Jane whooped with delight as Ian Boot's son took his place, which made him blush and grin. "RAVENCLAW!" the Hat shouted out after being placed on Terry's head, earning him cheers from the table to the newly-sorted student's left. As the Hufflepuffs had been with Hannah and Susan, the Ravenclaws were quick to welcome Terry in their midst.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy!" This time, it was a girl with wavy caramel hair and hazel eyes. "RAVENCLAW!" the Hat shouted, which earned her cheers from that table.

As she headed over, Minerva then called out, "Brown, Lavender!" A girl looking very much like Mandy - but with darker and more straight-cut brown hair - took her place on the stool. "GRYFFINDOR!" the Hat called out, earning Lavender cheers from the table to the far left, which made her blush as she headed over.

"Bulstrode, Millicent!" A stocky yet still cute girl with wavy sienna hair in pigtails and deep brown eyes took her place under the Hat. "SLYTHERIN!" it then called out, earning her restrained but still quite polite applause from the table to the far right of the room as Millicent headed over to join them.

"Corner, Michael!" Minerva shouted out. Michael, a black-haired boy with dark brown eyes, was soon dispatched to Ravenclaw. "Cornfoot, Stephen!" Minerva called out, summoning a blond-haired boy with light blue eyes, who was also sorted right away into Ravenclaw. Vincent Crabbe was then sent to Slytherin. Like Millicent before, Vincent was the recipient of more restrained applause from his new housemates in comparison to the wild shouts and cheers from the other tables to their newest members.

Noting this, Aesup leaned towards Chikage. "«_Some would think that some people don't care too much for the house they are in_,»" she mused in Korean.

"«_That's the legacy of the Snakes' Den and all the propaganda they've earned over the years_,»" Chikage noted as Tracey Davis was sent to Slytherin.

"Entwhistle, Kevin!" Minerva called, summoning a sharp-looking boy with dirty blonde hair and grey-blue eyes. He was sent to Ravenclaw. "Finnegan, Seamus!" the deputy headmistress then called out. He was a more childish boy with dark blue eyes and flaming red hair. He was immediately dispatched to Gryffindor. "Finch-Fletchley, Justin!" Minerva then called out, summoning a boy with chocolate-brown hair and deep grey eyes, looking quite bright and smart with fine clothes under his cloak.

"Don't recognise the name," Draco muttered to Gregory and Pansy as Justin found himself sent to Hufflepuff. "Another damned mudblood . . . "

Aesup looked at him. "And you're just another damned mudbrain, Malfoy," she muttered, crossing her arms as Minerva called out, "Goldstein, Anthony!"

Draco fired her an annoyed look as the others awaiting their turn watched Anthony - a boy with dark blond hair and deep brown eyes - be sent to Ravenclaw. Right afterward, Gregory Goyle joined Vincent and Millicent at the Slytherin table. After that, Hermione was sorted to Gryffindor. As she headed over, Harry and his friends all applauded, which made her blush as she took her seat. Draco turned to gaze on Harry. "Why the hell are you applauding _her_ being sorted?" he demanded.

Harry stared at him as Daphne Greengrass was sorted into Slytherin. "I'm being polite to a friend, Mister Malfoy," he answered as Minerva called, "Hopkins, Wayne!"

Wayne, a bespectacled boy with almost-black hair and dark brown eyes, was sent to Hufflepuff. "Jones, Megan!" Minerva called out, summoning a girl with long black hair and brown eyes to the stool. She was sent on to Hufflepuff. And then: "Lì, Sǔ!"

Harry and his friends all whooped loudly as the pretty raven-haired, brown-eyed Chinese girl took her place at the stool under the Hat. This time, there was something of a pause before the Hat called out, "RAVENCLAW!" That earned her a round of whoops and cheers from Harry and his friends atop those from Sǔ's house as she took her place.

"You KNOW that girl?" Ron asked as Minerva then summoned Neville Longbottom, who - after nearly falling flat on his face! - was sorted into Gryffindor.

Harry ignored the laughter that immediately erupted as Neville moved to head over to join his new housemates . . . with the Sorting Hat still on his head! "We've known each other for five years now," he explained as Minerva took the hat away from Neville before he headed back to the table, tripping over his feet once more before taking his place. "Her parents are friends of the people who helped break my dad's stupid prank on my relatives five years ago." As Minerva then called out "MacDougal, Mòrag!" to summon a girl with hair the same fiery red as Marian's and eyes the same green as Harry's to the stool, Harry added, "She's really nice. You'll like her."

A snort. "She a book brain!" Ron said as Mòrag was sent to Ravenclaw. Minerva then called out "MacMillan, Ernie!" He was a sienna-haired boy with dark green eyes. As he was sorted into Hufflepuff, Ron then added, "Why do you care for them?"

"Because true friendships transcend all boundaries," Chikage mused as Draco was then called to be sorted right away into Slytherin.

As applause filled the hall, Minerva smiled. "Matthews, Camellia!"

Harry and his friends whooped and cheered as Camellia took her place. As she slipped on the Hat, she relaxed. _Good evening, Sir Alastair_, she thought out.

The Hat seemed to gasp. «_What? Who told you THAT, my dear?_»

_You can sense it, I believe_, she thought back.

A pause, and then a chuckle. «_Oh, my! Albus must be feeling very proud of himself at this time!_» A wheezy laugh then escaped the Hat as he added, «_No WONDER all the ghosts are so excited now! So . . . _» A deep hum from the Hat. «_My! My! My! Not only are you the second child of one of the Crown's Magical Shire Reeves, you've befriended the Traveller's granddaughter AND the Boy-Who-Lived atop that!_»

Camellia tensed. _EH?_ she gasped. _OH, NO! You mean . . .?_

«_Be calm, Camellia_,» the Hat tenderly replied, its voice sounding to her very much like that of her father's. «_I am bound to respect the cloak of secrecy that protects your father and all his co-workers from the mainstream wizarding world. My own creator, Godric Gryffindor, swore eternal fidelity to the Crown as much as your father did. Godric - as well as Helga, Salazar and Rowena - would approve more of people like Sir Orion than they would of most wizards running the Ministry of Magic these days. But enough of that! Time to sort you!_» Another hum. «_Reserved and observant, willing to do what's necessary to press your ends and the ends of those you love and care for. Almost like a Hufflepuff, but you value success above all else even if it means helping your friends succeed, too! An easy choice . . . _» "SLYTHERIN!"

Harry and his friends whooped and cheered as Camellia stood up, giving the Hat back to Minerva before walking to her friends. Noting that, people at the Slytherin table quickly picked up the volume as Camellia shared hugs with all her friends, and then she turned and bowed deeply to Severus Snape. Surprised by her show of respect, the potions master bowed his head in return, smiling. With that, Camellia headed to her table as Minerva turned back to her parchment, calling out, "Mun, Aesup!"

Aesup accepted her friends' embraces before she walked up to the stool. Then, much to everyone's surprise, she stood to attention, and then deeply bowed to the Hat. "_Kŏmŭn'yong-nim, annyŏng hashimnikka!_" she called out, her eyes turned to the floor.

Silence.

"My word!" the Hat gasped, causing the jaws of EVERYONE in the Great Hall to drop; NO ONE had ever seen or heard the Sorting Hat actually speak out so freely on its own before in public! "Now, whatever does that mean, Miss Mun?" it demanded.

Aesup looked at it. "'Lord Black Dragon, peace be unto you,'" she translated from her native tongue, and then she bowed again. "With your kind permission?"

"So respectful!" the Hat crooned out. "By all means, my dear!"

Aesup headed over as Harry and the others cheered, they soon joined by many of the people in the Great Hall. As the Korean witch put the Hat on her head, she relaxed herself. _I hope you didn't mind that, Sir Alastair_, she thought.

Laughter echoed in her mind. «_Ah! I see Miss Hirosaki is getting into the spirit of pranking! I pray she doesn't join forces with the Weasley twins! Such a force would make the Marauders and the Icemaidens look quite tame in comparison!_»

_I've heard of them_, Aesup mused. _Their brother's going to be near the end of the list tonight, I think. Compared to what Harry-ya's guardian did, they're thugs!_

If the Hat could wince, it would. «_Now THAT'S harsh, Aesup!_»

_Pranks must be done with style and grace_, Aesup explained. _My brother told me of that incident last year with that poor fellow from Melli's house! I've known Jane Roper for years and her mother told me all that she and her friends did when they were here in the 1970s. Even Harry-ya's guardian said that had been really awful! And look what nearly happened to Snape-sŏnsaengnim when he was a student here! No style at all!_ A sigh. _But personally, I admit that I have loftier goals in mind._

«_So I can sense, my dear Aesup. You may not have remembered what your parents and your older brother went through when your family was chased out of your homeland just after your birth, but you understand the injustice done there. And you see the many injustices that rock the society you're a part of. You want to help them achieve the level of comfort your brethren in the southern part of your homeland enjoy these days. A laudable goal, Aesup, so let it be known now . . . _» "GRYFFINDOR!"

Cheers from Harry and the others - even Camellia at her table - as the Gryffindors all whooped and applauded while Aesup stood up, took off the Hat with a flourish, placed it on the stool, and then turned and deeply bowed. "_Kamsahamnida, Kŏmŭn'yong-nim_," she said before bowing to Minerva. "_McGonagall-sŏnsaengnim._"

"Please take your seat, Miss Mun," Minerva said, nodding in return.

"_Ne_."

More applause from Harry and his friends as Aesup went over. This time, more of the people in the Great Hall were clapping and cheering, even some at the Slytherin table. As soon as Aesup was seated, Minerva then called out, "Nott, Theodore!"

He, a cold-looking boy with neatly-combed brown hair and dark brown eyes, was sorted into Slytherin. Pansy Parkinson soon joined him at that table, and then Minerva called out, "Patil, Padma!" She - a lovely girl with dusky skin marking her as a native of the Indian subcontinent, her black hair done up in a single braid on her left side and dark brown eyes - soon took her place at the Ravenclaw table. Minerva then called up, "Patil, Parvati!" She was virtually the same save for the fact that her hair was in twin French braids to both sides of her neck. She was soon sent to Gryffindor. And then Minerva called out, "Perks, Sally-Anne!" She was a tomboyish girl with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. As soon as she was on the stool, she found herself sorted into Hufflepuff. As applause filled the hall, Minerva then smiled.

"Potter, Harry!"

Harry nodded as his friends all cheered him on to the stool. As gasps filled the hall, the heads of everyone in the room cranked around to gaze on him. He stopped and bowed to the Hat. "With your permission?" he asked respectfully.

The Hat seemed to smile. "By all means, Mister Potter!"

More gasps filled the Hall as Harry took his place and the Hat was placed down on his head. _I'm glad I'm not the only one who's going through this tonight._

A laugh. «_This, I will confess, is the most interesting Sorting I've ever been through in all the centuries I've existed,_» the Hat noted, and then he gasped. «_Oh, my! I heard of what Glaston Tore did for your sister all those years ago, but to believe that Ryūji actually created THAT!_» Harry seemed to blink as an image of the Garden of the Galaxy flashed in his mind. «_Unbelievable! And by sheer fate, your own sister is now the keeper of the keys for THAT gateway to the Universe beyond!_»

_You'll have to wait a couple years before sorting Rose, Sir Alastair._

«_True, true, my boy! But let's sort _you_ now, shall we?_» A hum. «_Very interesting. A mixture of all the basic principles the Founders valued about all else! You're brave, intelligent, loyal to all those you befriend and quite cunning when you need to be! Quite the mix! This will be somewhat difficult . . . _»

Harry frowned. _What are the expectations from everyone else?_

«_For you to follow your parents' path, of course. And your guardian's._»

A hum. _Well, let's see now . . . if everyone expects me to be in Gryffindor, it might be for the best. After all, if I go to Slytherin, I could place Uncle Severus in danger from the kids of Tom Riddle's fighters. Don't want that. Ravenclaw might be nice, but Hermione seemed more destined for there than me and you just put her into Gryffindor. I guess it's a toss-up between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor._

«_And while you would fit well in either house - especially given your concern for other's feelings - you have an ironclad sense of right and wrong. It seems that Fate decreed this very much, Harry. Good luck, my boy!_» "GRYFFINDOR!"

Silence.

Harry pulled off the Hat, and then placed it on the stool before straightening himself, and then bowing to it. "Thank you very much," he said.

"You're quite welcome, Mister Potter," the Hat called back.

That broke the spell. A whoop of delight filled the Great Hall from the Gryffindor table as a chant of "WE GOT POTTER! WE GOT POTTER!" escaped a pair of older twins, whom Harry realised had to be closely related to Percy Weasley. As he accepted embraces from all his friends, Camellia got to her feet and began to clap and cheer. That got many others from the Slytherin table to applaud as well. Soon, everyone else was cheering as Percy shook Harry's hand, welcoming him to the house. Harry nodded his thanks as he then found himself in Aesup's arms, she giving him a kiss on the lips that earned them both a chorus of wolf-whistles and whoops of delight from their housemates.

Minerva grinned as she watched him take his seat, and then she turned back to her parchment. "Rivers, Marian!" she called out.

As Harry and his friends cheered, Marian accepted hugs from Jane, Achelois, Brianna and Chikage, and then she took her place at the stool as the Hat was placed on her head. _Good evening, Sir Alastair_, she thought out. _Exciting night, isn't it?_

Laughter. «_And you and your friends are doing much to create that excitement, Marian. Just like your mother and her friends did when they were here._» A hum, «_Ah! So _you_ have your mother's own map of the school! Be warned, my dear: The Weasley twins have the _other_ map that served your mother's rivals so well. If you're going to launch the pranking legacy of the new Icemaidens, you'll have to be careful._»

_I take it Aesup's told you what we have in mind?_

«_She indeed hinted at it very much, my dear. And since you seem to look upon all before you equally, without any sort of prejudice, yet don't care too much to push or manipulate people, there's one good place for you, Marian . . . _» "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Cheers filled the Hall as Marian stood up, took off the Hat, and then handed it over to Minerva before joining her new house. Once she was seated and accepting the handshakes and hugs of her new housemates, Minerva called out, "Roper, Jane!"

Jane headed over to take her place as people around her cheered. By this time, the level of applause was quite equal regardless of who was actually doing the clapping and cheering. Noting this, Albus could only smile in delight as he watched the Hat placed on Jane's head. _Truly this is a good sign_, he mused to himself.

_Good evening, Sir Alastair_, Jane cheerily thought out.

«_And a good evening to you as well, Jane. My, I think sorting you will be quite easy. Have fun with your good friend in . . . _» "HUFFLEPUFF!"

_Oh, poo! You took longer with the others!_ Jane mused, though she was smiling as she took off the Hat and handed it to Minerva before heading to her table.

"Runcorn, Achelois!" the transfiguration mistress called out.

Cheers echoed through the room as Achelois took her place. _Good evening, Sir Alastair_, she thought out after the Hat was placed on her head.

«_Good evening to you as well, Achelois_,» the Hat replied. «_I see your mother has prepared you quite well for your time here at the school._»

_I hope it doesn't upset things_, she thought back as she relaxed on the stool. _Even if I'd be more like a 'Puff like Mary and Jane, I still promised Mother I'd watch out for Uncle Severus. How can I seriously do that if I get sorted elsewhere?_

«_That's a Gryffindor talking, my dear_,» it warned.

_Whoops! Let's try this then: As soon as I'm in there, all of the Dark Dingbat's would-be lapdogs are going to learn an old riddle I once heard._

«_Oh, my!_» the Hat gasped. «_Getting warmer, my dear! What is that?_»

_What do you get when you stuff a pack of mudbrains in a room?_

«_The answer being?_»

An icy grin crossed her face. _Fresh mincemeat!_ she purred.

A hollow laugh. «_Oh, dear! I believe the people in . . . _» "SLYTHERIN!" «_ . . . better watch out from now on! Good luck, Achelois!_»

She nodded as she slipped off the Hat, and then stood up, handing it to Minerva before she bowed to Severus, and then she headed over to her house table as cheers and whistles filled the room. People didn't seem to mind as Achelois and Camellia shared a hug after the former got to her seat, and then they sat down. Minerva nodded before turning back to her parchment. "Smith, Zacharias!" she called out.

He, a handsome brown-eyed blond, was quickly sorted into Hufflepuff. Once he was at his place, Minerva smiled as she called out, "Spinks, Brianna!"

Brianna shared a hug with Chikage before taking her place at the stool. _Good evening to you, Sir Alastair_, she thought out after the Hat was placed on her head.

«_Good evening to you, Brianna. Now, let's see here . . . _» A hum. «_Ah! So it was your brother who dealt with Lilith Mulciber not so long ago! You're inspired by his actions as one of the Crown's Magical Shire Reeves, are you not?_»

_Who wouldn't be? The mudbrains in the Ministry don't give a damn about how much suffering those traitors to magic unleash, especially to all of the normal people! Besides, if Jordan didn't step in to deal with that bitch, Hermione would be dead right now! Not to mention who knows how many others the Carrows wanted her to kill!_

«_You care for her, don't you?_»

Brianna frowned. _I don't really know her as much as I do Harry and the others, but I really like her. She's brainy and she doesn't care who knows it! Besides, if I __**don't**__ go into Gryffindor, who's going to keep Aesup in check?_

A laugh. «_Good point, my dear!_» "GRYFFINDOR!"

Whoops and cheers filled the room as Brianna took off the Hat and handed it to Minerva before she bowed to the transfiguration mistress. Once she headed over to her house's table to accept Harry's and Aesup's embraces and Hermione's handshake before she sat down beside them, Minerva called out, "Thomas, Dean!"

He, a smiling dark-skinned boy with very short, curly black hair and dark brown eyes, also found himself sorted into Gryffindor. Once he was at his seat, Minerva called out, "Turpin, Lisa!" She, a pretty girl with long blonde hair and blue-green eyes, was sorted into Ravenclaw. After her, Ronald Weasley found himself sorted into Gryffindor. Finally, Blaise Zabini became part of Slytherin.

Silence then fell.

Minerva smiled as she gazed on Albus. The headmaster nodded, and then he stood up, quickly noting the confused looks on many people's faces as they realised that there was still one more first year student to be sorted. He held out his hand to make everyone quiet down, and then he smiled. "Yes, my friends, we have one more person to sort before we get on with our evening repast," he declared. "As she announced herself to myself and several others when she arrived here in Britain a month ago, she is a simple and humble traveller, coming from her own land far away in _time_ and _space_ . . . " Here, he dramatically paused as eyes suddenly fixed on the purple-haired girl standing by the head table, the jaws of many dropping in shock and disbelief as it finally clicked in. "Please welcome her here as she carries out her Magical Quest, just like her own grandfather did many years ago. Professor McGonagall, if you may?"

"Certainly, Headmaster!" Minerva said before calling out, "Hirosaki, Chikage!"

Silence fell as that name registered in the minds of all who heard it, and then a wild whoop escaped many at the Ravenclaw table as Filius Flitwick nearly dropped out of his chair in wide-eyed joy and disbelief. As people got to their feet and began to applaud and scream out, Chikage remained still, gazing on them all, and then she sighed as she walked over, placing herself on the stool as she tried to tune out all the cheers and screams from the people around her. A grinning Minerva placed the Hat on her het as she relaxed herself. _Good evening, Sir Alastair_, she thought out.

«_Good evening to you, Chikage! And welcome!_» the Hat returned as she felt it start to shift through her mind. «_I see your grandfather was quite determined to see you off on your Quest no matter what your mother tried to do to stop . . . oh, MY!_»

She sighed. _It was not as bad as it seems now_, she advised.

«_'NOT AS BAD?' My dear, you're a master of understatement! How in the name of Merlin did you . . .?_» A pause. «_Oh, I see now! My, what a true warrior mage your saviour was! Had Negi gone to the Hogwarts in your dimension instead of Merdiana, he would have been a Gryffindor for sure! Such spirit and compassion!_»

_Wouldn't that be more towards Helga's line of thinking than Godric's?_

A laugh. «_It could be both, my dear! In fact, by what I've seen so far, you match the ideals of all the Founders as much as Harry does! But still, I must sort you, so . . . _» A pause. «_Wait . . .!_» It hummed. «_Ah! Now I understand._»

_Care to share?_

A chuckle. «_We're about to disappoint some people, Chikage_,» the Hat advised her. «_When you return to that beautiful home in Tōkyō, do tell all your sisters and your brother that it is your love and loyalty to them that decreed this . . . _»

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Silence.

"So mote it be," Chikage said as she felt her uniform change to match her new house affiliation. "My thanks, good sir," she then said as she pulled off the Hat and turned to gaze on it. "May you continue to sort with faith and diligence."

"Your wishes, Miss Hirosaki, I accept. _Gambatte_."

She nodded as she handed it to Minerva before she paused and stared at everyone else, who were all stunned speechless at that decision. Quickly noting the looks of heartbroken disbelief on the faces of almost all of the Ravenclaws there, she shrugged before gazing at Blaise Zabini. "As I said, Blaise: _Ce qui sera, sera_."

He smiled. "'Whatever shall be, will be.'"

"So it will be," she affirmed with a nod, and then she turned to Pomona Sprout, who was utterly struck speechless by what just happened. "Professor Sprout," she said with a deep bow before she turned to head to her new table.

As she walked there, Hannah and Susan both exchanged looks with Marian and Jane, and then all four screamed out, "_**WE GOT HIROSAKI!**_"

That did it. Everyone at the Hufflepuff table began to scream and cheer as they exchanged handshakes and hugs. Many of them reached out to Chikage to touch her, shake her hand or embrace her. Watching this, the people at the other tables all remained still before Harry and his friends got to their feet and applauded. Others were quick to follow them as their cheers and clapping filled the Great Hall to the rafters . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	4. The First Night

Later . . .

"Welcome! Welcome, all of you!" Pomona declared as the eleven newest Badgers walked into the Hufflepuff common room, a two-floor space based on the second floor of the residence wing of the castle. The feast had just ended and all the students were moving to head to their dorms to bed down for the evening. Already gathered there were the elder students of their house, all with welcoming smiles on their faces as one of the prefects guided them into sitting down as a group on a couple of long sofas in the room. "I trust the moving staircases weren't too difficult," she then stated.

"They were a little tricky, ma'am," Justin confessed with an embarrassed smile; he had nearly fallen off one when it swung away from him, only to be caught by Chikage.

"That's understandable," Pomona said as Maxine O'Flaherty, who was a year ahead of the freshmen, moved to serve tea. "For most muggleborns, they are quite tricky." As soon as the tea was served, the herbology professor then took a deep breath. "Well, now that we're all gathered together, we will begin by allowing each of you new badgers to introduce yourselves and telling us a bit about yourselves. Trust and loyalties are things that are paramount in this house; it's what keeps us together when those of other houses deride us as the 'house of the castoffs' or the 'house of the weak.' We must never allow the opinions of others to hurt us; they are but words, words spoken without a true understanding of what our philosophy in life ultimately is."

"What is that, Professor?" Wayne asked.

Pomona smiled. "A good question, Mister Hopkins. I'll describe it this way: The Gryffindors are the guardians, the Slytherins are the planners, the Ravenclaws are the intellects . . . " - She then waved to all of the students standing around the room - " . . . and we, my friends, are the glue that keeps our society together. We are the doers. We are the foundation on which our society stands strong and proud. We are the people who are there when others cannot be there or will not be there."

Nods from the others in the room. "So let's begin," Pomona then said. "We'll go in alphabetical order." She gazed on Chikage. "_Proper_ alphabetical order, that is!" As the people in the room laughed, she gazed on Hannah. "Miss Abbott?"

Hannah stood up. "Well, my name is Hannah Clementine Abbott. I'm from Camden in London. My birthday is the twenty-second of February. My mother currently works at the Slug and Jiggers Apothecary in Diagon Alley as a potion-maker. My father is a guitarist. He plays for a band that tours all over England."

"Your father's a muggle?" Cedric Diggory, a third-year student, asked.

"Yes, he is." Hannah didn't appear ashamed on saying that, Chikage was quick to note. "When Dad and Mom first met, he was busking near the Leaky Cauldron when Mom was heading into the Alley one day to do her shopping for sixth year."

"'Busking?'" a second-year boy asked.

"That means you go out on the streets and play for tips," Hannah explained, and then she grinned. "It was love at first sight between Mom and Dad, though Mom's parents had problems with it at first. I can play the guitar and I sing, too."

"She certainly carried the house when we sang the school song," Chikage said.

Hannah flustered as many people laughed and cheered her. "That she did, Miss Hirosaki," Pomona stated. "What do you hope to do when you graduate?"

A shrug. "I don't know, Professor. I knew I was magical from the start - Mom was always honest with Dad about that - but I never considered what my life would be like after Hogwarts." Hannah then blushed. "I guess I'll have to think about it."

"And you have the time to do that, my dear. Now, Miss Bones, your turn."

Hannah sat as Susan stood. "I'm Susan Edmonda Bones. I'm from the Isle of Bute in Scotland. I was born on the twelfth of October. My father is the current head of the Noble House of Bones; we live at our home on Bute. My mother is a muggle that Father met and fell in love with sometime after he graduated from Hogwarts; she's a writer of romance stories under her maiden name, Janice Dobson. My aunt Amelia is the Director of Magical Law Enforcement for the Ministry in London." She then looked down. "I had another uncle, too, but he was killed by You-Know-Who's people in the war."

A spell of respectful silence fell as people gazed sympathetically at Susan as Hannah gently squeezed her arm. "Do you intend to become an Auror?" Pomona asked.

"I'm thinking about it," Susan said, and then she sat.

"Mister Finch-Fletchley?"

Justin stood up. "I'm Justin Dylan Finch-Fletchley. I'm from Chapel Saint Leonards in Lincolnshire, on the shore of the North Sea. I was born on the second of July. I'm muggleborn as you would all think of people like me as. My parents are the owners of a series of hotels that are set up all over Lincolnshire, especially along the North Sea coast in places like Skegness." He then smirked. "I was really shocked to get my invite here. Father and Mother were preparing to send me to Eton for my secondary schooling, but they didn't seem to mind that I turned out to be a wizard."

"What's Eton?" a fourth-year girl asked.

Justin shrugged. "It's an all-boy's school close to Windsor Castle west of London. If you go to Eton, you're pretty much guaranteed to go to universities like Oxford and Cambridge." He smiled. "I'm hoping to go there after I graduate from here. At least Mother and Father are hoping I could still go there if the chance comes."

"And that's understandable," Pomona stated. "Many muggleborns find it quite a shock to be brought into our world. Hopefully, the wonders of magic might make you change your mind in the future, Mister Finch-Fletchley. And of you, Miss Hirosaki?"

Justin sat down as Chikage stood. "My name is Chikage Hirosaki. I am, as I'm sure you are now quite well aware, the granddaughter of the man many in your society came to call 'the Traveller.' And yes, like Grandfather, I am from another dimension where magical societies developed much differently than they did here."

"How did you get here?" a sixth-year boy asked.

Chikage smiled. "Through quite a bit of magical brute force. Susan, did your aunt tell you of a Class Ten magical event on Harry Potter's birthday?"

Susan blinked. "Yes, she did . . .!" Her jaw then dropped. "Oh, Merlin! That was YOU?" she screamed. "EVERYONE at the Ministry was panicking over that!"

"Relax, Susan. I've already seen to it the Department of Mysteries will - if they haven't done so already - make things right." Chikage then cleared her throat before gazing on everyone else. "I was born in Kōtō, one of the special wards - they would be the equal of the boroughs of London - of Tōkyō. My birthday is the sixth of March. I am the third of thirteen children of Atsuo Minakami. He was a financier; he passed away quite recently. My mother Jalynda Hirosaki, unlike myself, rejected all desires to learn magic due to the death of her mother, my grandmother Yukiko, when she was born." As shocked gasps and disbelieving looks crossed the faces of many there, she added, "Mother currently works for the Genom Corporation, which is Japan's largest company at this time, with my stepfather, Tomohisa. My grandfather is currently the leader of a spiritual group that crosses the magical/normal divide, which is dedicated to the welfare of all those in the Kantō basin - where Tōkyō is - in the wake of a great earthquake that nearly killed me along with my sisters five years ago."

"Well, at least you made it through," Pomona noted as many people just stared at her. "What will happen while you're here with us, Miss Hirosaki?"

"During the summer months, I will be retracing my grandfather's footsteps into parallel dimensions where he learned other types of magic," Chikage replied. "One such trip will be to the _Mundus Magicus_, which - if you don't know this - is a world full of magical humanoids that Grandfather and his best friend in Hogwarts, Glaston Tore, first encountered in 1936 in this universe. When this is all over, of course, I will return to my home dimension and be prepared to take Grandfather's place in the magical and spiritual service of His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Japan."

"Where are you staying during the summers?" Maxine asked.

"With Harry and Rose Potter and their guardians."

Interested looks then crossed a lot of people's faces. "I'm sure we'll all get the chance to learn what happened to Mister and Miss Potter soon enough," Pomona said as she moved to cut them off. "Now, Mister Hopkins, your turn."

Chikage took her seat as Wayne stood. "My name is Wayne Ryan Hopkins. My birthday is the fifth of May. I'm from Melton in Leicestershire. My parents both attended Hogwarts, but since they were both normal-born, they never really got anywhere in the wizarding world, so they went back to the normal world, caught up with the normal schooling they missed, and then began working for my family's pork farm there. I have a sister, Donna, who might be coming here to Hogwarts in 1993." He shrugged. "I knew I was going to be coming to Hogwarts - even if we lived as normals, Dad and Mom always used their magic around the house - but I've never heard a lot of good things about wizarding society from either Dad or Mom, so I'll probably head back to normal society when I graduate, then work on the farm." He sat down.

Pomona sadly nodded. "And I don't blame you for saying that, Mister Hopkins. Indeed, the prejudice towards muggleborns can be awful on occasion." She then gazed on the people around her. "But I doubt you'll find that prejudice active here, though."

"Why did you say 'normal-born?'" one of the seventh-year students asked.

Wayne smirked. "'Muggle' and 'mundane,' Dad always told me, were bad words. He never really explained why, but given that I heard the word 'mudblood' whenever I did come to places like Diagon Alley, I can understand why he hated that."

Another sad nod. "Indeed, that is a bad word to use. And let me state this now," the herbology mistress then declared as she sternly gazed on the older students. "If I catch anyone making use of that word here - or demonstrate any sort of prejudice like that which hurts someone here - the punishments will be quite severe." As people around her nodded and whispered acknowledgements, Pomona then smiled. "Miss Jones?"

Megan stood. "I'm Megan Grace Jones, from Kidwelly in Wales. My birthday is the sixth of November. I'm normal-born, just like Justin is, but I have an older brother, Oliver, who attended Hogwarts from '81 to '86. My father is a professor of medieval history at the University of Wales - he just LOVES to study wizarding society since it seems to reflect so much of what normal society was like back in the Middle Ages! - and my mother is a gynaecologist and an obstetrician, a doctor that deals specifically with women's issues such as pregnancies and childbirth."

"Your mother's a midwife?" a third-year girl asked.

"That's the title for someone who wasn't trained as a doctor," Megan said. "My mother is a certified doctor; a 'healer' as you would call them here."

Nods from around the room. "What happened to your brother, Miss Jones?" Pomona asked. "He was doing quite well during his OWL year, then never came back to school."

Megan smiled. "Ollie became one of Her Majesty's Magistrates Magical; he was knighted to the post last year. He took the place of Sir Bernard Morgan, who served at the post for Carmenthenshire for thirty years before he decided he would retire. Ollie apprenticed with Uncle Bernard for four years before it happened, though."

People look surprised. Marian and Jane were giving Megan warning looks. "What's a Magistrate Magical?" Cedric then wondered. "I've never heard of that."

"Oh, that's an honorary position," Megan said with a smile. That statement made Marian and Jane relax. "They're chosen by the Queen to act as her eyes and ears in every county in the country so she can know what's going on in Her Realm. Ollie meets with her once a month to tell her about anything magical in Carmenthenshire."

"But she's only the Muggle Queen!" a third-year boy protested.

"She's also YOUR Queen."

Eyes locked on Chikage. "How do you know that, Chikage?" Maxine asked.

Chikage reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out her shrunken trunk. Placing it on the table, she un-shrunk it - which caused people in the room to gape, though many, including Pomona, were nodding in approval of her being so well-prepared for life at school - and then opened it before drawing out a book. "This is the _Legis Magicus_," she said as she moved to let everyone see the cover. "The published laws of the Wizengamot. The Separation Act of 1692 is the first one listed here as it is the oldest law still in effect. Its preface clearly states that while the Wizards' Council at the time was electing to form a government independent of Parliament on behalf of the magical subjects of the United Kingdoms of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland at the time, their first and foremost loyalty would remain with the Crown, then personified by Their Majesties, King William III and his wife and co-ruler, Queen Mary II. They swore that in the names of all your ancestors and it was approved by a public referendum with unanimous vote." She placed the _Legis Magicus_ on the desk before closing and shrinking her trunk, and then slipping that in her skirt. "There has been no law passed by the Wizengamot that has severed the legal relationship with the Crown; you are, formally, Her Majesty's Magical Subjects and thus answerable to her legally and magically." She tapped the _Legis_ in emphasis. "That was the first book I bought when I went to Diagon to get my school supplies. If you want to read it, you can."

Nods around the room. "I see. I must confess, I never knew that," Pomona said. "Thank you for telling us that, Miss Hirosaki. And thank you for showing us a part of our own culture that seems totally unknown to us, Miss Jones. Now, Mister MacMillan?"

Ernie stood as Megan sat. "I'm Ernest Lewis MacMillan. Call me 'Ernie.' I'm from Rosyth, across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh. I was born on the sixteenth of July. My father is the head of the Noble House of MacMillan of Rosyth. My mother's a homemaker. We're a small family." He smiled before gazing on Justin, Wayne and Megan. "Unlike other pureblood families, we don't mind muggleborns. 'Everyone that's magical is someone special;' that's what Father always told me. And I believe it, too."

"Do you have plans after Hogwarts?" Pomona asked.

A shake of the head. "I've never really thought about that, Professor."

A nod. "Don't worry, Mister MacMillan. You'll get the chance. Miss Perks?"

Ernie sat as Sally-Anne stood. "I'm Sarah Annette Perks, from Ross-on-Wye in Herfordshire," she began. "Call me 'Sally-Anne.' I'm mug- . . . " She then caught herself before smiling. "I'm normal-born, too. I was born on the fourth of October. My father's a forester who helps protect and preserve what's left of the Forest of Dean, which is south of my hometown. My mother's a housewife. I have a sister, Kelly, who's shown some accidental magic, too. She might be coming here in 1995."

Pomona nodded. "The more, the merrier. Miss Rivers?"

Sally-Anne sat as Marian stood. "My name is Marian Katharine Rivers. I was born on Christmas Day in 1979. I'm from Chatham in Kent. My father currently serves as Her Majesty's Magistrate Magical for the County of Kent. My mother was normal-born and she works as a teacher at a local infant school in Chatham for normal children. I have a younger brother, Luke, who should be coming here next year. I've yet to decide what I want to be when I graduate from Hogwarts, but I'll probably stay close to home."

She sat. "Another one? Oh, my! This is really interesting," Pomona said before she gazed on Jane. "And what of yourself, Miss Roper?"

Jane stood up. "I'm Skye Jane Roper. Use my first name, I'll hex you into the middle of next week." As people laughed - they remembered one Nymphadora Tonks (who had just graduated before the start of summer) and how she HATED being called by her given name - she smiled. "I'm from Greenwich in the east side of London. I was born the day before this one cursed the world with her presence," she said as she thumbed Marian, who let out a squawk as she glared a promise of nasty retribution when they got the chance to be alone. As people around her laughed, Jane continued, "My dad is Her Majesty's Magical Magistrate for old London." As people blinked in surprise, she added, "And yes, he was one of the ones who freed Harry Potter and his relatives from his dad's idiot prank on his uncle and aunt. And by the way, the Dursleys are pretty good people and the children they had after Harry went off to be with Rose are all coming here eventually." As whoops and cheers filled the room, Jane then pointed to an older version of herself, standing off to one side. "You know my sister Lynn. We also have a spore of a younger sister that we'll be cursed within a couple years, Anne."

"That's a terrible thing to say about your sister, Miss Roper!" Pomona stated.

"Actually, Professor, Anne was the first of us who showed signs of magic," Lynn said as she and Jane exchanged a look. "She likes to see herself as the brainiac of the family." She hummed. "Well, since we got Chikage, the 'Claws can have Anne."

"Oh, dear God! That'll just make her worse!" Jane groaned.

Laughter filled the room. "Well, let's hope it does happen, then," Pomona said as she covered her mouth politely. "And of yourself, Mister Smith?"

Zacharias stood as Jane sat. "I'm Zacharias Benjamin Smith. I was born on the second of June. I'm from Whitley Bay in Tyne and Wear." A shrug. "Not really much to tell about me or my family. They're pretty much a normal wizarding family though we don't have wizarding neighbours. Father works at the Ministry as part of the Ludicrous Patents Office. Mother pretty much stays at home. Me?" He shrugged again. "I guess I'm like everyone else here. Except Chikage, that is." As people nodded, he sat.

"Well, thank you very much," Pomona then said. "It's rather gotten late in the evening and tomorrow is your first day of classes, so we'll end it there. Remember, the password for this month is 'Honesty;' please don't pass it on to anyone not of the house. Let's all get a good night's sleep and let's have a wonderful year."

People cheered . . .

* * *

The Slytherin dorms . . .

"Welcome to the Serpents' Den," Severus began as everyone relaxed in the common room, located on the fourth floor of the dorms to the east of the Gryffindor common room. The eleven first-year students stood in a row by the south wall of the room, all looking attentive and relaxed. The students of the older years stood close to the other walls of the room as well as the balcony on the fifth floor; like the other house dorms, the common room for the Slytherins was a two-floor affair. "As you were no doubt told by Professor McGonagall before you were brought into the Great Hall, our house has a long and illustrious history, much of which has - in recent years - been cast into doubt thanks to those who allied themselves with the Dark Lord during his rebellion against the Ministry over a decade ago. Because of that, we find ourselves in a sea of constant suspicion, mistrust and even outright hatred for merely being the magical heirs of Master Salazar. To that end, certain things must be remembered.

"First: Whatever your differences between each other might be, they are NOT for public display to ANYONE from the other houses, professors included. We ALWAYS present a united front to those not of us under ALL circumstances.

"Second: Regardless of your opinions and ideas towards those of questionable birth status, you are NOT to do anything which will bring disgrace to the house, to your housemates, or darken the name of Slytherin more than it already is.

"Third: Do all you can to support each other in public.

"Understood?"

Nods from the first years. "Excellent," Severus said as he drew out his wand to tap one place on the south wall close to where Draco and Pansy were standing. "This is the roll book for Slytherin; the list dates back all the way to the founding of Hogwarts as a whole," he said as the wall opened up, revealing a rolled scroll with names written in blood. "To be properly welcomed into the house, you will announce your full name, then offer blood to the scroll. Once this is in place, special defensive charms are then put into play to be used in the direst of emergencies. Miss Bulstrode, you're first," he then said as he beckoned Millicent towards him.

One of the seventh-year prefects drew out a sharp dirk. Without flinching, Millicent drew her index finger over the blade's edge, and then allowed the blood to fall onto the scroll. "Millicent Helena Bulstrode," she called out.

The blood then flowed over the parchment to form her name. "Mister Crabbe," Severus beckoned as Millicent backed away to allow Vincent to take her place, she then being tended to by one of the sixth-year prefects to heal the wound on her finger.

"Vincent Jordan Crabbe, Junior," he said after allowing his blood to be drawn.

"Miss Davis?"

Tracey came up as Vincent backed off. "Tracey Lynnelle Davis," she called out after having her blood drawn and spread over the parchment.

"Mister Goyle?"

Gregory came up as Tracey moved out of the way. "Gregory Alexander Goyle," he said after offering his blood up to the parchment.

"Miss Greengrass?"

Daphne then came up, her hand reaching out for the dirk. "Daphne Regina Greengrass," the grey-eyed blonde said as she offered up her blood to the parchment, and then she nodded as her name appeared there before backing off.

"Mister Malfoy?"

Draco came up. "Draco Abraxas Malfoy," he called out after having his blood drawn, and then he allowed it to be spread over the parchment.

"Miss Matthews?"

Draco backed off as Camellia came up. "Camellia Rosa Matthews," she then called out before offering her blood to the parchment. She then blinked. "Professor?"

Severus perked, and then walked over before blinking. "Interesting."

Camellia looked into his eyes. «_Is that normal, Uncle Severus?_» she called out in her mind as she felt a Legilimency link form between them.

«_Quite normal, Camellia_,» the potions master said. «_The founder of our house was loyal to the Crown throughout his life. No doubt, Master Salazar would approve of the Loyal Oath you were given by your father before coming here._»

Camellia nodded as she backed away. "So what IS that?" Draco asked as several others came up to stare at the tiny symbol beside Camellia's name.

"The Royal Cypher of Her Majesty the Queen," Achelois stated.

Confusion appeared on many faces. "The muggle Queen?" Gregory asked.

Achelois' eyes fell on him. "She's YOUR queen, too," she frostily noted.

Gregory tensed, immediately backing away from the brown-haired girl's glare. "Indeed she is, Mister Goyle," Severus stated. "Mister Nott?"

Theodore walked up, offering his finger to the dirk. "Theodore Zachary Nott," he called out before offering his blood to the parchment.

"Miss Parkinson?"

Pansy came up. "Pansy Isabella Parkinson," she said before offering her blood to the parchment. She then smiled as her name was written out before backing away.

"Miss Runcorn?"

Achelois stepped up. "Achelois Hypate Runcorn," she called out before allowing her blood to flow onto the parchment. She then smiled on seeing the Royal Cypher appear beside her name. Nodding, she then backed away, waving Blaise up.

Severus smiled. "Mister Zabini?"

Blaise nodded, and then allowed his blood to be drawn. "Blaise Leo Zabini."

Once his name was on the parchment, Severus nodded. "Welcome to Slytherin," he said before gazing on the older students in the room. "Objections?"

No one said a word; the offering of the blood to the Sacred Scroll of Slytherin was seen as proof of the Sorting Hat's decision to send these eleven first years into the Serpents' Den this time around. "Excellent," Severus stated as he beckoned the first years to join the others. "The seventh-year prefects will show you our private library and potions laboratory. They are there for your use. Do NOT take anything from the library out of the dorms; the books are charmed to burn if that happens. Once that is done, you may turn in for the evening. Be fresh and prepared for tomorrow."

Everyone nodded . . .

* * *

Back in the Hufflepuff dorms . . .

"What was THAT for?"

Jane yelped as Marian slammed her in the head with a pillow. "Hey!" she screeched before she grabbed a pillow from her bed and swung back. "Take that!"

Both girls began to bash each other with the fluffy bags of feathers. Watching them, the others - they were now gathered in the part of the dorm space on the second floor that had been reserved for the first-year girls; the spaces were partitioned off so that two girls would have a "room" to themselves - could only laugh. The seven girls were meeting in Jane's and Marian's room. Hannah and Susan would share the room beside Marian's bed; Sally-Anne and Megan would share the room on the other side; and Chikage would have a room all to herself beyond that. While the other girls were laughing on seeing Jane and Marian bash each other with pillows, Chikage had her Churchill text in hand as she relaxed at the desk near the foot of Jane's bed. "So what're they like, Jane?" Hannah then asked, which made Jane stop and gave Marian a chance to clock her in the head with a pillow. "Harry Potter and his sister?"

"Harry and Rose?" Jane asked, and then she shrugged as she sat on her bed. "He's okay. Took him a while to get used to living among magicals again, but he got the hang of it soon enough. He's pretty smart - back when his cousins' family were still under that awful curse, he got slammed into the cupboard under the stairs when he proved he was a better student than Dudley - but he doesn't stick it in your face."

The other girls save Megan and Chikage all gaped, looks of aching sympathy on their faces as they considered that. "Rose is pretty alright, too," Marian added as she collapsed on her bed. "She was raised by her godparents and Sir Glaston's house elves because her mom died when she was born. She thinks people who think Harry's special because of what he's said to have done to the Dark Dingbat are dunderheads . . . What?" she asked as Hannah and Susan both gaped at her. "What? What is it?"

"Oh, Merlin! You actually call You-Know-Who THAT?" Hannah gasped.

A snort. "Dark Dorkbrain. Dark Dunderhead. Slit-Eyed Albino . . . " Jane then laughed. "Rose cooks up new names to apply to the berk every month." She then shrugged. "Then again, we can just call him by his real name: Tom Riddle. He was Head Boy here at Hogwarts back in '45. Surprised people don't know about that."

Hannah and Susan blinked. "So he was just an ordinary bloke?" Sally-Anne asked. "From what I heard about him, he was the worst thing to come down since Hitler!"

"Oh, he was," Marian affirmed. "Trust me about that, Sally: He was. And could still be; a lot of people - Dad included - still think he's out there."

"But everyone says Harry killed him!" Susan stated.

Jane and Marian rolled their eyes and Megan shook her head. "Honestly! How could he do that, Susan?" Jane asked. "He was just . . . what? Fifteen months old? Harry could barely walk, much less cast a spell against Riddle!" She shook her head. "No, it was his mom that saw to it Riddle's now without a body. She sacrificed herself to save Harry. Lucky thing Sir Glaston was there to save Rose when Riddle tried to kill her mom. If he didn't, who knows WHAT might have happened to Harry!"

Susan and Hannah both looked flummoxed as they stared at Jane. "I never knew that," the former said. "All the books about Harry never said ANYTHING . . .!"

"All the books are wrong, Susan," Marian warned.

Hearing that, the pigtailed girl could only shake her head. "People needed a hero to look up to once Tom was eliminated, Susan," Chikage then said, making everyone stare at her. "Since Harry's mother was a normal-born, the prejudices of many weighed down against her being the heroine of the hour, so they turned to Harry since his father was of a magical family with a long history." She turned the page of her book. "And since too many people needed to then concentrate on rebuilding after the war was finally done with, people didn't take the time to sit back and think about what really happened that night. Of course, since Rose was raised in isolation to keep her safe from revenge-seekers, there was no real way to make people wake up and see the truth."

"Where do they live, anyway?" Hannah asked.

"I'm not allowed to tell you."

Jaws dropped. "Why not?" Susan demanded.

"Because Rose's home is even more Unplottable than Hogwarts is seen as," Chikage stated. "And she's been raised in . . . " Here, she paused as she considered what to say before sighing. "Let's say a much more liberal and forward-thinking place than what either of you might be used to." She turned to Sally-Anne. "Sarah, if you hear anyone call you a 'mudblood,' feel free to use the term 'mudbrain' back on them."

Hannah blinked. "'Mudbrain?'"

"What does that mean?" Susan demanded.

"It's used for idiots who don't know a thing about normal society," Jane said. "It won't apply to you two since you both have one normal parent and you know a lot about normal society." She giggled. "Aesup loves to use it on Draco Malfoy every time she sees the twit. She even used it when she heard Malfoy call Justin a mudblood."

Hannah and Susan blinked, and then they laughed. "If it's meant for idiots like Malfoy, that makes it perfect!" the former said; her mother had long warned her about THAT family and their silly prejudices against normals and normal-borns.

Before anyone else could say anything, the room-wide curtains closing off the space from the rest of the dorm parted to reveal Maxine. "Hey, it's almost time for lights out. You better get into your spaces and bed down. Early day tomorrow."

The younger girls nodded as they moved to head out of the room and return to their own spaces. Once she was in her own space, Chikage took a deep breath before she marked her place in her text, and then placed it on the shelf under her nightstand. She then reached into her trunk to draw out a small box made out of meson crystal.

Opening it, she drew out her Tarot deck, and began to shuffle the cards . . .

* * *

Meanwhile, three floors up, above the Slytherin dorms . . .

"I want to talk to you."

Achelois perked on hearing that voice, and then she looked up from the book she was scanning to stare intently at Draco. "What is it?" she asked, clearly unconcerned that the blond was currently accompanied by Vincent and Gregory.

"I need to know everything about Harry Potter."

Achelois' eyebrow arched, and then she closed the book and moved to slip it back where she found it. "Why? You said on the train after he rejected you that it would be his fault if he suffered the same fate as his parents. So why the interest now?"

"You know what he did to the Dark Lord. There are people . . . "

"Who are traitors to magic."

Silence.

"_What?_" Draco hissed as he turned to see Camellia standing behind him and his companions. "What the hell did you just say, Matthews?" he snarled as he moved to glare into her eyes. "How dare you accuse such a great man of THAT?"

"Oh, I can accuse that THING your fathers once bowed to of a lot of things," Camellia said, a light smile crossing her face, one that didn't reflect in her pale eyes. "I can accuse him of being a LIAR. I can accuse him of being a HYPOCRITE. I can accuse him of being a HALF-BLOOD. And I can accuse him of being a BASTARD CHILD, too," she smoothly said in a voice that sounded very much like Severus' cool tones. "And what's even more, I would be RIGHT." She then took a step towards Draco, which made him falter as her gaze penetrated deep into him. "Remember this well, Malfoy. Your father may have bought his way out of Azkaban ten years ago, but as long as he's got Voldemort's brand on his arms, he's vulnerable to a very neat version of the Killing Curse that was specifically designed to deal with Death Eaters."

"_Morsmordre Avada Kedavra_," Achelois then said as Draco spun around to see the brown-haired girl now standing close to them, her smile equally icy and mirthless. "That's how those freaks were put down at Romney Marsh, no doubt. Not to mention what might have happened to Rosier, Gibbon and Mulciber later. I doubt they even realised what happened to them until it was too late." She then moved closer to Draco, which made Vincent and Gregory back away as she radiated a level of menacing certainty which made Draco's knees buckle. "What's the matter, Dracy-poo," she said in a mocking version of Pansy's saccharine-sweet voice. "Don't have Daddy-kins around to protect you anymore." She snorted as Draco shuddered in outrage. "Too bad. He's a traitor to magic as well as the Crown. And he's under a living death sentence right now."

"As are your fathers as well," Camellia added as she glared at Vincent, and then Gregory, which made both boys wince as they shied away from her. "All it would take is one word from the Queen and all three of them - not to mention those other ones who were allowed to buy their way out of Azkaban - would be very dead." She then leaned closer to Draco, which made him cower even more. "And there's nothing that your dad's pet minister could do to stop it. You people don't realise how close the Ministry came to being DISBANDED at WANDPOINT and BAYONET POINT on the Queen's orders ten years ago. For that, you better be thankful to Harry's 'mudblood' of a mother for stopping the Dark Fool when she did after he came to Godric's Hollow. For if Harry HAD died that night, the sick, depraved, rotting thing you call your 'society' would have been put to a final, quick death. And all you mudbrains would be left with NOTHING."

Draco's jaw began to flap up and down as his mind nearly crashed over what he was being told. "So don't bother us again," Achelois warned. "Cry out to your father, Draco, and he'll be put down like the rabid werewolf he actually is."

"That's not a threat," Camellia added. "It's a promise."

With that, both girls headed off for the secret passageway that would lead back to their dorm rooms. Draco watched them go, his jaw still flapping helplessly.

Unseen by any of them, three women had watched everything from nearby . . .

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor dorms . . .

"Thanks for agreeing to share a room with me, Harry."

"No problem, Neville," Harry said as he relaxed himself at the desk at the foot of his bed. A pad of paper was out and he was busy writing a letter to Rose to dispatch to Reevetor Somerset when he got the chance to see Hedwig - whom he had sent flying ahead to Hogwarts before he boarded the Express - and send it off. Already, the room was nice and warmly decorated, especially with pictures of both their families; Neville had been really surprised to see the picture of Harry's house elves. Trevor also had a place to stay; Harry had conjured up a glass enclosure for the toad, which now was on a shelf over the head of Neville's bed, much to the latter's delight. "I'll ask Aesup to write her dad and see if we can get a wand specially made for you. Why did your grandma let you use your dad's wand? That's kinda dumb."

Neville shrugged. "I guess I just wanted to have something of Mom and Dad with me," he admitted as he looked at the fourteen inch-long elder wood wand with a dragon heartstring core, which was now on the nightstand beside a picture of Grace, part of a three-picture foldout with a picture of his parents and one of his grandmother Augusta. "It works for me pretty fine, at least for the few times I tried it out before getting here." He then stared at Harry. "I still can't believe that you got a wand from Mister Mun when your sister got one back when you were just SIX! I mean, I know why Grace and Rose got their wands, but why you? How'd you do that?"

"The lady from Chikage's home universe that came here when Professor Dumbledore tried to send a message to Chikage's grandfather about Rose and Grace warned him that I had to start wand training a lot sooner than normal," Harry replied as he wrote his letter. "That's all thanks to what the Dark Moron did to me when he tried to kill me. Just like what Grandpa Glaston's sacrifice did to Rose and Grace." Neville had obviously come to realise by now the relationship between his sister's "dream friend" and the Boy-Who-Lived-And-Vanished. "We've been tearing up the hill around our place practicing duelling ever since. Uncle Moony says we're pretty good at it; he thinks we could even go professional when we graduate from school in '98 and 2000."

"That'd be cool!" Neville said.

The curtains then slightly parted to reveal Percy Weasley. "Sorry to interrupt you, gentlemen, but lights out is in ten minutes," the prefect warned.

Harry smiled. "Thanks, Percy," he said, and then he perked. "Weasley . . . " He then stared at the older boy. "Do you have a relative named William?"

Percy blinked, and then he grinned. "He's my oldest brother. He currently works at Gringotts as a curse breaker. How did you hear his name, Harry?"

"Grand-uncle Ragnok and Uncle Erlking told me about him," the younger student replied as Neville moved to slip himself under the covers. "They say he's a really talented curse breaker, one of the best that's ever come to work for them."

Percy gaped. "Merlin! You actually call the Chief Director 'grand-uncle?'"

"Sure I do," Harry said as he finished his letter and put his pen away. "I got it from Rose; she ALWAYS calls older people 'uncle' and 'aunt' . . . or 'grant-uncle' or 'grand-aunt' if they're old enough." He then chuckled. "Rose doesn't care too much if you're human or not. Guess that rubbed off on me when I went to live with her."

A hum. "A good attitude to possess. Do you know other non-humans?"

"Oh, tons of them," Harry said. "Atop the house elves that raised Rose and I, there's Uncle Cyllarus; he's a centaur. Aunt Hylonome is his wife, a centauress. There's a whole herd of them that live close to where we do. Aunt Skadthi and Aunt Freyja are giantesses. Uncle Zthrymr is a giant. They're from one of the Tribes that weren't affected by the war the Dark Dorkbrain started that killed off most of the European giants that live out in Russia these days." Harry ignored Percy's boggled look, much less Neville's dropped jaw and wide eyes, on both of them hearing the Boy-Who-Lived-And-Vanished call Voldemort "Dark Dorkbrain." "Aunt Kamila is a vampire; she leads her own coven that lives close to there. Aunt Nancy is a werewolf; she's Rose's godmother and leads the pack that lives close to us. Uncle Moony's part of that pack, too. And Aunt Elaine is a Cornu." A shrug. "All sorts of people."

Percy blinked. "My word! You're quite a worldly young man, Harry." He then raised a cautionary finger. "But be careful in saying you know all those types of beings. Some people look on giants, centaurs, vampires and werewolves as Dark creatures. It's a rather silly belief, but a lot of people have them."

A nod as Harry moved to get undressed. "I know. That's what made me hesitant to come here in the first place," he said. "Even if we were pretty cut off from mainstream society, Uncle Moony has a subscription to both the _Daily Prophet_ and the _Quibbler_, so we're pretty up-to-date on things elsewhere." He shook his head as she slipped on his pyjamas. "It's sad the way people get treated at times."

"I know it is. Anyhow, you get some sleep, Harry."

"You, too, Percy. Good night."

The prefect withdrew. As Harry finished dressing in his nightclothes, he then slipped himself under the covers. "_Nox_," he called out to the enchanted lamp on the nightstand, which plunged the room into darkness. "Good night, Neville."

A nod. "Good night, Harry."

Silence then fell over the room.

"Harry?"

"What is it?"

"What's a Cornu?"

Harry smirked. "Tell you in the morning."

He then winced on hearing a loud snore rumble through the curtains from a neighbouring room. "Oh, brother!" Harry moaned as he slipped out his cherry wand from under the pillow and aimed it at the curtains; he just couldn't BELIEVE how loud one of his new dorm mates could snore. "_Kyojun: Cubiculum Exterior Silencio!_" he hissed.

The snores were instantly cut off. "What spell was that?" Neville asked.

Harry slipped his wand away. "I'll tell you in the morning, Neville. 'Night."

The other boy nodded before closing his eyes . . .

* * *

In the academic wing . . .

"Working late, Professor?"

Quirinus Quirrell perked on hearing Argus Filch's voice, and then he nodded. "Y-y-yes," he stuttered to the caretaker of the castle. "Just f-f-finishing up m-m-my plans f-f-for the first y-y-years," he said as he waved to parchments on his desk.

An understanding nod. "New targets to use, eh?" the squib said with a cackle. "Well, don't stay up too late, Professor. You have a good night."

"Good n-n-night, A-a-Argus."

He headed off. Quirinus watched him go, and then drew his wand as he whispered a spell to close and lock the door. Unseen by him, a small grey rat scurried in just before the door closed and locked into place. By then, the D.A.D.A. teacher was busy writing up the last of his lesson plans. "A very interesting start to the school year, isn't it, Master?" he then asked aloud, without any sign of a stutter.

The rat suddenly perked on hearing the human call out to an empty room, and then blinked as a haunting yet VERY familiar high-pitched voice replied, "That it is, Quirinus. That it is. Both the boy who struck me down all those years ago . . . and the granddaughter of the man who truly inspired me to do what I had to do. We may be in for lucky times if we're cautious." A chuckle. "Wouldn't you agree, Peter?"

Quirinus jolted, grasping his wand as someone suddenly appeared in the rows of desks. "I would indeed, Master," Peter Pettigrew said with a smile.

The D.A.D.A. teacher blinked, and then he grinned. "I heard you were dead!"

"It was necessary given what happened when Sirius came after me just after the Master was struck down," Peter said as he walked down to take the professor's hand in his own. "I don't recall you being part of us, Quirinus. When did . . .?"

"I'm a rather recent convert to the Cause," the D.A.D.A. professor said.

"But a loyal one as well, Peter," that high-pitched voice echoed from somewhere close to Quirinus' head. "He rescued me while he was in Albania; that's where I was forced to retreat to after that business at Godric's Hollow."

Peter gaped. "Albania? Oh, Merlin! I searched for you all over most of Europe, but I never thought . . . " He shook his head. "Oh, Master, I'm sorry!"

"Enough! Let me see what happened to you. Quirinus?"

The professor raised his wand. Peter braced himself as Quirinus called out, "_Legilimens!_" As a bolt of energy lanced into the animagus' head, Peter relaxed himself as he felt the last ten years of memories replay themselves. After what seemed an eternity - it was only a minute or so - Quirinus called out, "_Finite._"

A hollow chuckle. "Oh, Peter! Well done, my friend! Well done indeed!"

Peter sighed. "It was the best I could think of, especially given the situation. Arthur and Molly are Albus' closest allies that are still alive and active. I saw a lot while I was pretending to be their son's pet." A chuckle. "I'd have my wand with me, but it got destroyed in the fight with Sirius. Not to mention a finger to make everyone think I was dead." He then held up his right hand, a wry smile on his face. "Though . . . "

Quirinus looked. "Which finger?"

"The index one," Peter said as he wiggled the intact digit. "Couldn't believe it when I noticed it growing back over the years. Never understood why."

A hum. "Something we'll have to look at when we have the convenience," that high voice mused. "Quirinus. Show him what happened."

The professor tensed. "But Master! You're not . . .!"

"It's alright. He needs to know."

He nodded, and then moved to remove the heavily garlic-scented turban he had over his head. As it came off, he then slowly turned around to show what was now affixed to the back of his head. Seeing that, Peter's hazel eyes widened in shock as his jaw dropped. "Oh, Merlin . . .!" he gasped. "Oh, Master!" He immediately moved to prostrate himself before the face of his dark lord, bowing his head right to the floor. "Oh, Master! Please! Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Enough. Stand up, Peter."

Immediately, the animagus got back to his feet. Voldemort then seem to take a deep breath. "Much that I do appreciate you still being alive and willing to help, I think it'll be much better if you remain as 'Scabbers,'" the dark lord then mused.

Peter blinked. "Master, please . . .!"

"It's alright," Voldemort calmly cut him off. "Quirinus and I are working on a plan to get our hands on the Philosopher's Stone. Albus somehow convinced Flamel to allow the Stone to be brought here from Gringotts." A dry chuckle. "Even better, the professors are contributing in laying out a series of traps to keep the nosy ones away from discovering the truth of what lies in the third-floor corridor in the southeast tower of the residential wing. Right now, we can't risk rasing suspicion with anyone, especially Albus. I'm still very weak in power and unfortunately, my presence inside Quirinus is forcing a steady drain on his magic core. But if we have the Stone and use some rituals I'm aware of, it should ultimately be of no consequence."

"What can I do to help, Master?" Peter asked.

"Right now, stay with the Weasleys. Which one of Arthur's boys are you with now? I heard he has six of them, plus a daughter, with Molly."

"At present, the youngest boy, Ron," the animagus answered, a delighted smile on his face. "He just got sorted tonight into Gryffindor."

"Which puts him close to Harry, right?"

"Not close enough, Master."

Voldemort seemed to perk. "Oh? From what you saw of her, Molly seemed hell-bent on making Ronald become the best friends to the 'Boy-Who-Lived.'" Both men were quick to sense the derision in their master's voice on his saying that phrase. "And there is Ginevra; Molly would gladly see her become Harry's wife when they become of age." He then smirked. "_If_ they become of age, of course," he ominously added.

Peter nodded. "Agreed, Master. From what I saw of her, Molly is ready to risk everything - including being accused of attempting line-theft! - to see Ginny married to Harry." He shook his head. "Anyhow, Ron did try to seek Harry out on the Express, but Percy - he's the third-oldest boy; he's a fifth-year prefect now - cut him off. And when the first-year boys moved into the dorms, Harry partnered with Frank and Alice's son Neville while Finnegan and Thomas elected to share a room. Ron is alone in his own room." A chuckle. "Molly's pretty good with Howlers, Master. That should be a rather interesting scene when she gets wind of what happened."

A chuckle. "Pity she won't succeed." A sigh. "And a pity still that I will have to destroy that boy," the dark lord then mused.

An uneasy look crossed Peter's face. "Sir, I remember what Severus told you. Don't you think this prophecy Sybill put out was actually fulfilled?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Master, remember the preamble: 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches,'" Peter then quoted. "'Vanquish' is just another way of saying 'defeat' or 'overcome.' You did try to strike him down. And somehow - even now, I can't understand HOW! - he overcame your magic." A shrug. "Doesn't that imply, in a way, that he did vanquish you, Master?" As Voldemort's eyes flared with outrage as Quirinus' body shuddered, the animagus tensed as he saw the possessed professor tightly grip his wand. "I mean vanquish your will to destroy him!" he then blurted out.

Silence.

"Yes . . . "

"He does have a point, Master."

Voldemort's eyebrow arched. "What do you mean, Quirinus?"

The professor took a deep breath. "I mean, given that you did survive that encounter at Godric's Hollow, Master, perhaps Sybill's prophecy wasn't meant to predict your ultimate death but merely forced you to wait for your final victory."

A hum. "Yes . . . " the dark lord hissed out. "You have a point, Quirinus. And even if the power of prophecy is said to be undeniable, it is often believed that if one does not totally surrender to its influence, it can be held off." Another hum. "Yes. Perhaps you're right. Clearly given how confident and comfortable Harry seemed to be at the Sorting, it might be more to our advantage to see if we could either co-opt him to our side or at least keep him neutral. He's been separated from wizarding society ever since I tried to kill him. And even if he is under your 'friend's' guidance wherever he and his sister live now, Peter, he seems not to care too much about some things. I wasn't able to scan into his mind at the Sorting . . . "

Peter gasped. "HOW? You're as powerful as Albus himself in Legilimency!"

"I can't say, which is another reason I'll need you to keep a close eye on Harry for the time being," Voldemort cut him off. "There's something going on in this land that has escaped the notice of many people in our society for far too long, my friend. Our side's notice as well as the Ministry's and even Albus and his allies. Look at what happened at Romney Marsh. Look at what happened to Daniel, Helena and Lilith. We now know of two people who might have an idea of what else is out there: Your old year-mates Napaeae Runcorn and Hogan Roper. Another one named in the 'Prophet' because of what happened to Harry's relatives was Wilma Skegness; she was a year-mate of Glaston's and Ryūji's. There was a muggleborn there as well: Reggie Spelthorne."

Peter nodded in understanding. "I understand, Master. But PLEASE, if you or Quirinus need help, don't hesitate and call me!" he then urged. "You're the soul of our cause, Master! If we lose you, who knows WHAT will happen to our society then!"

Voldemort nodded. "Thank you, Peter. We will be fine. Now go on."

The animagus nodded as he turned to leave.

"Peter?"

Peter looked over. "Master?"

"What of that map you helped James, Sirius and Remus make? From what I saw of your memories, Arthur's and Molly's twins now have it."

A chuckle. "A simple Confundus charm took care of that, Master."

A dry laugh. "Good man! Now off with you!"

He nodded before his body melted into energy and then reformed as Scabbers. After slipping his turban back into place, Quirinus headed over to unlock the door and open it slightly to allow the animagus to scamper into the darkened corridor . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	5. The Vanished Wing

Outside the dorms, Monday 2 September . . .

"Good morning, everyone. Sleep well last night?"

Four first-year Gryffindors turned and smiled as Chikage, Jane and Marian stepped off one of the moving staircases onto the ground floor leading into the corridor towards the Great Hall. "Indeed we did. And a good morning to you as well," Harry said as he offered his free arm to Chikage, who took it immediately; Hermione had the other arm. Aesup was holding Brianna's hand while Jane and Marian held hands; this was a Korean tradition Aesup taught her friends when it came to expressing close friendship. They headed off to the Great Hall. "Ready for your first day of classes?"

"Wish we could have gotten a hold of our schedules beforehand so we could get to classes right away," Marian mused. "First class here starts at eight o'clock sharp."

"Well, let's get breakfast," Hermione said as they stepped through the doors into the Great Hall. "The sooner we're fed and ready for the day, the better."

"'Morning!"

Everyone turned as Achelois and Camellia came into the Hall right after them, hand-in-hand. "'Morning," Harry called back. "Sleep well last night?"

"We're okay," Achelois said as they moved to stand in a group near the end of the Ravenclaw table, and then she switched to Japanese as she added, "«_Just had to put Draco-chan and his goons in place when they tried to force me to give up all your dark secrets, Harry-kun. According to Oji-san . . . _»" - He knew that would mean Severus Snape - "«_ . . . poor Draco-chan might be whining to his father soon enough._»"

"«_Oh, word of warning, Harry-kun,_»" Camellia added. "«_First Potions class for us will be the third period this morning. Oji-san hopes you're prepared._»"

Harry smirked. "«_Already have something in mind,_»" he promised her.

"Oh, poo!"

He blinked, and then turned to Hermione. "What is it?"

"How did you learn to speak Japanese? Chikage's only been here for a month!"

Chikage smirked. "As soon as I'm capable, Hermione, I'll be more than happy to help you learn how to speak Japanese and Korean like a native," she promised, and then she hummed as she looked around the Great Hall. "So, where shall we sit?"

Hermione perked. "We sit at our house tables, Chikage. Everyone knows that."

"On the contrary, Hermione," the traveller countered. "There are only FOUR set occasions when we _must_ sit by house. The start-of-term feast, the end-of-term feast, any special celebratory feasts such as Hallowe'en and Yule, or school-wide assemblies as specifically mandated by the Headmaster." She then smiled as she glanced over her shoulder, her eyebrow arching. "Would you not agree to that, Headmaster?"

"Indeed I would, Miss Hirosaki," Albus said as he came up to them, his eyes twinkling with delight. "And a good morning to you all. Ten points to Hufflepuff for such diligence in understanding the school rules before coming here."

Chikage turned and gracefully bowed to him. "On behalf of Hufflepuff, Professor, I accept your judgement and the points awarded."

Albus perked, and then he chuckled. "Ah, that brings out some memories! Your grandfather did the same thing when points were rewarded to Ravenclaw because of him!" He then hummed. "So how will you decide on which table to sit at?"

"A very simple game that is played worldwide, Professor. Aesup, you call!"

"_Ne!_"

Both girls held up their right fists. "_Kaui-baui-bo!_" Aesup called out.

Aesup made a knife hand, Chikage a fist. "Paper wraps around rock. Gryffindor wins," the latter said before she turned to her Slytherin friends. "Camellia, you and I." They poised their fists. "_Jan-ken-pon!_" she chanted as they immediately thrust out their hands. This time, Chikage made a knife hand while Camellia made a "V" sign with her fingers. "Scissors cut paper. Slytherin wins. Camellia and Aesup."

Both took their positions. "_Kaui-baui-bo!_" Aesup chanted.

Aesup made a fist while Camellia made the "V." "Rock blunts scissors. Gryffindor wins again. Gryffindor it is today," Chikage said.

With that, everyone moved to head over to the end of that table. "My word!" Albus said as he followed them. "Was that a normal game, Chikage?"

"Oh, it's a universal game where I come from, Professor," Chikage replied as they took their seats. "It's like calling heads or tails when you flip a coin, only except this time, you have three choices in lieu of two."

A nod. "A most interesting concept. Ah! There's breakfast!" Albus then said as plates of food then appeared before the students before he blinked on seeing a bowl of what appeared to be chopped cabbage covered in reddish sauce and interlaced with what seemed to be strips of seafood and green vegetables. "Oh, my! Whatever is that with your meal, Miss Mun?" he asked as his picked up on the odd scent coming from it.

Aesup grinned. "Kimch'i!" she called out as she picked up her fork and took some of that in hand before she munched on it before digging into her vegetable omelette. "Oh, that's . . .!" she began before stopping and blinking as her taste buds picked up on the VERY familiar flavour. "Wait!" she then said before looking to the back of the room. "Can one of the kitchen elves come here please?" she called out.

_Pop!_ "You wishes to speaks to Curly, Mistress Aesup?"

Everyone turned to see a dark-haired elf standing beside Aesup, dressed in what was normal for a Hogwarts servant: A black cassock-like robe with the school crest on it, tied close to her for modesty. "_Ne,_" Aesup said as she indicated the bowl of the traditional Korean dish beside her plate. "Did Kaesomun bring the kimch'i to school?"

Curly nodded. "Yes, Mistress Aesup! Kaesomun is a good elf for his Mistress! He brings lots of kimmichee for Mistress to have and teaches Curly and all the elves of Hogwarts how to makes kimmichee like Mistress Aesup's mother makes!" She looked scared as she seemed ready to break down and cry. "Did Curly does right for Mistress?"

A nod. "You did! You're a very good elf and you honour Hogwarts very much. But I can't have kimch'i unless all my friends can enjoy it, too!"

Curly grinned. "Curly will gets more for Mistress' friends!"

With a _pop!_, she vanished. Seconds later, bowls of kimch'i appeared beside everyone else's plates. "Oh, great!" Harry said as he picked up his fork and dug in. "Hey, Aesup! We gotta get Kaesomun to teach the elves how to make all the good stuff when Ch'usŏk and Sŏllal come around." He then perked. "When's Ch'usŏk, anyway?"

"The twenty-second this month," Aesup said. "Sŏllal's the fourth of February."

"What are those?" Hermione asked; she was already moving to drink some pumpkin juice after taking a taste of the spicy and fermented kimch'i.

"Respectively, the Autumn Harvest Moon Thanksgiving and the Lunar New Year," Chikage said. "They're two of the most important holidays among Koreans."

"Ah, I understand," Albus then said. "It sounds most interesting. In the meantime, I'm going to try some myself. Curly?"

_Pop!_ "Yes, Master-headmaster?"

"Bring some kimch'i to the head table, please?"

"Curly will does so!" _Pop!_

"Have a good meal, Professor," Harry then bade.

"You as well."

As Albus headed up to the head table, more people began to stream in. Amongst them were Percy Weasley and Penelope Clearwater, hand-in-hand. Both were surprised to see the gathering of first-year students at the end of the table normally set aside for Gryffindor. "Excuse me, but may I ask what you people are all doing sitting here?" the former asked after they came over to stand close to Chikage.

"Before we answer, _Sempai_, would you care to read this first?" Chikage said as she drew out a book from her robe and handed it over. "The marked page."

Percy took it, and then he gaped on seeing that it was the _Regula Hogwarts_, the book containing all the rules and codes of conduct for staff and students who attended the school. Taking it, he opened it to the marked page, which was titled "Use of the Great Hall of Hogwarts." Scanning through it, he then blinked before gaping. "I didn't know this!" he blurted out. "All the time I thought . . .!"

"No doubt because most people never thought to read up on such things," Chikage said as she moved to sip her tea. "My grandfather told me to make sure of these sorts of things before I came here. He was rather quite appalled that the social divisions between the houses here were so deep and so passionate. To be seen to defy them . . . " A shake of the head. "One would almost be ready to conclude that your recent civil war provoked by Tom Riddle and his followers had its roots in pointless inter-school rivalries. So we all decided it was simply our civil duty as students here to snuff out the next conflict before it could get the chance to really start."

Percy nodded as he handed the _Regula_ back to its owner. "A wise idea, Miss Hirosaki." He then stared at Penelope. "Which table shall it be today, my dear?"

"Where do you think?" she teased before taking him to the Ravenclaw table.

The first-years watched them go with smiles on their faces, and then turned back to their meals. By then, other students were starting to stream in. While the older students were quick to stare in confusion at the mixed gathering at the end of the Gryffindor table, the other first-years streaming in at the time just stared at them and then shrugged before they headed off to pick their own places to sit down and dig in. As time marched on ahead, the older students soon learned about the actual rules of mealtimes from other first-years who had purchased the _Regula Hogwarts_ while they had been shopping in Diagon Alley. Within a half-hour - after most of the staff and students had come in to enjoy their own morning repast - the four student tables were now a menagerie of colours as people engaged in excited chatter about their just-ended summer holidays or their expectations towards the new school year.

Unfortunately, though . . .

"Hey! What the heck are these SNAKES doing here?"

The group at the end of the Gryffindor table all stopped, turning to gaze as one on Ron Weasley. "Ron, I doubt the rest of the people here really appreciate you interrupting their breakfast by shouting like that," Harry said before sipping his apple juice. "And by the way, there are no snakes anywhere in the Great Hall."

Ron sputtered, and then he pointed at Achelois and Camellia. "Them! What are they doing here?" He then indicated Chikage, Marian and Jane. "And what about these duffers? This is the GRYFFINDOR table, Harry! Only Gryffindors sit . . .!"

"_Mister_ Weasley! Whatever is the matter with you?"

Ron froze on hearing that voice, and then he turned to see a very stern Minerva glaring at him, her hands full of sheets of parchment. "Professor! These people shouldn't be sitting here!" he said as he pointed to the non-Gryffindors at the table. "This is OUR house table! Not the Hufflepuffs or the _Slytherins_!" Everyone was quick to sense the derision in his voice on mentioning that house name.

"That only applies at four occasions in the school year, young man," the transfiguration mistress declared. "And a normal breakfast isn't one of them. Now sit down and begin to eat! Ten points from Gryffindor for making such an unseemly display in front of people who are clearly striving to promote inter-school unity."

"Take away ten more points from Gryffindor," a silky voice added as Severus came up to join his fellow head-of-house, a like pile of parchment in his hands. "My house may have a serpent as its symbol, but I will NOT tolerate my charges being called 'snakes' by someone who clearly doesn't truly understand the facts of life!" As Ron's jaw began to flap in shock, the potions master then proceeded to hand sheets of paper to Achelois and Camellia. "Miss Runcorn, Miss Matthews, your schedules."

"Thank you, Professor," both girls chanted as they took the sheets.

Severus then headed off. "Mister Potter, Miss Mun, Miss Spinks, Miss Granger, your schedules as well," Minerva said as she handed her own sheets out.

"Thank you, Professor," the four so named chanted as they took them.

Minerva then handed a sheet of paper to Ron. "I suggest you eat as quickly as possible, Mister Weasley," she then said. "You have a class at eight sharp!"

Ron jolted, and then he raced over to sit down close to where his twin brothers were as a meal appeared before him. As Minerva headed off, Pomona then came up with her own pile of schedules. "Here you go, girls," she said as she handed copies to Chikage, Jane and Marian. "And by the way, you all: Ten points each to Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Gryffindor for promoting school unity."

Chikage, Jane and Marian bowed their heads to her. "On behalf of our house, Professor, we accept your judgement and the points awarded," they chanted.

"May we also say the same for our house as well, Professor Sprout," Harry said before he, Hermione, Aesup and Brianna bowed their heads. "On behalf of Gryffindor, we accept your judgement and the points awarded, Professor," they chanted together.

"On behalf of Slytherin, we accept your judgement and the points awarded, Professor," Achelois and Camellia also said, bowing their heads.

The herbology mistress was now as red as a cherry. "Oh, Merlin! I'm NEVER going to get used to hearing THAT from you all!" she said before heading off.

They watched her, and then shared a giggle before returning to their meals . . .

* * *

"So Harry, Hermione, Aesup and Brianna will have their introduction to Transfiguration at eight with the Ravenclaws," Chikage said as everyone stood near the entrance to the Great Hall sometime before first class was to begin. She had copies of her own, Harry's and Achelois' schedules in hand as she compared them. "Our first class there will be second period for the rest of us. Third period will be the first Potions class for the Gryffindors and Slytherins. Charms for the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws in fourth period. Last period before lunch is free for us all, then in the afternoon, a double-shot of History of Magic for Achelois and Camellia while we all get a double-shot of Herbology, then you two get Herbology for a double-round after that while we get the rest of the day off until suppertime. Okay, then." She handed the other sheets back to their owners. "Supper isn't until six in the evening, so at four-thirty, meet up with me at the academic side of the Long Bridge."

"What will we do then?" Hermione asked; the Long Bridge - so called because it was the longest of the three arch spans connecting the two wings of the castle, from the academic side to the patio around the Great Hall - was visible outside a window.

"We're not expected to being serious schoolwork until you get used to moving around in this place. According to Grandfather, that normally takes a week or so," Chikage stated as they headed towards their dorms. "So we'll go explore a place Grandfather found when he was here and converted into his own personal study zone."

"Is that allowed?" Hermione then hissed, her eyes wide with fear. While she had read the story of Ryūji Hirosaki in _Hogwarts: A History_ and other history texts that she had got hold of, she had never learned THAT about the Traveller!

Chikage smirked. "It was located in the 'vanished wing,' which is just beyond the greenhouses close to the loch. The wing actually fell victim to several misapplied curses and hexes back before Grandfather's time here. He discovered a short-cut there and actually tried to restore the rooms back to normal again, but never succeeded before he left." She winked at her. "We'll see if we can do it in our generation."

Hermione perked, and then she grinned. "Oh, that sounds . . .!"

"AH! Ickle firsties! Time for a flip!"

Everyone tensed on hearing that cackling voice, and then spun around as something akin to a ghost soared through the air towards them, dressed in something similar to a jester's uniform, complete with floppy hat at the top. He was diving down towards the carpet under all of the student's feet when Chikage whipped out her wand.

"_**SPIRITUS SOLARIS FULMEN!**_"

A bolt of bright light exploded from the yew wand to lance into Peeves' chest, which caused the poltergeist to scream out in pain as he was flung back several metres from the impact. "OW!" As Chikage pulled her wand back, Peeves seemed to shake his head before staring in disbelief at the traveller. "YOU HURT ME!"

"And I can do much worse," Chikage warned as she walked up to glare down at him. "Magic's not the only thing that can dispose of someone like you, Peeves. And I am fully cognisant of those things." She then smiled at him. "However, I know you can't stand still since it is not your nature, so I offer you this: Spare the first-years for two weeks and I will give you something my grandfather gave you in fifth year."

Peeves blinked, and then grinned. "Bells?"

"A whole carillon for you."

He then cackled. "Okay!" He then vanished before Chikage tensed as she sensed a pair of invisible fingers squeezing her nose. "GOT YOUR CONK!"

She sighed as the others came up to her. "He came to us when Percy walked us to our dorms," Harry said. "Dropped a load of sticks on Neville. Percy said the Bloody Ba- . . . " He caught himself as he remembered what Chikage had called the Slytherin house ghost last night. "Um, Lord Ælfweard's the only one who can control him."

"So it was in Grandfather's time," she mused. "Shall we be off to classes?"

The others nodded as they headed off . . .

* * *

"Um, Albus . . .?"

"Yes, Filius?"

"Did you recognise Miss Hirosaki's spell?"

A chuckle. "That was not magic, Filius."

Jaws dropped. "It WASN'T?" Minerva gasped. "What was it then?"

"On her Earth, there are some normals - mostly those who follow what are called the 'martial arts' - that have the ability to manipulate their own life energy to make magical-like attacks on various targets," the headmaster explained as he and the heads-of-houses stood together just outside the door to the Great Hall as students filed out for their dorms to get their books for first classes. "In Japanese and Korean, the concept is called _ki_. The concept is known here, but there's been no documented cases of such a display of power. According to what Ryūji once told me, there were certain schools of 'ninjutsu' - that's the Japanese stealth art - whose practitioners were so well skilled in manipulating their _ki_ that they could literally DESTROY a ghost, spirit or poltergeist with just one blast of energy as Miss Hirosaki just did."

"Merlin!" Severus gasped. "And she came HERE to study MAGIC?"

"Yes. Here, she can study it free of all the interesting ideas and concepts that no doubt haunts the teachings of our counterparts in her universe."

"Strange," Pomona noted . . .

* * *

The Transfiguration classroom, second period . . .

"Our first class here," Chikage said as she and the other Hufflepuff first-year students streamed into the room, framed on either side by Jane and Marian. "Good morning, everyone," she called out to the Slytherins, who had taken up the right side of the rows of desks as seen from the back of the room.

"Ready for your first true magic lesson?" Camellia asked with a smile.

"Indeed I am," the traveller stated as she sat in the desk to her friend's left.

"I can't believe the Hogwarts in your dimension can't teach you magic," Draco - who was seated off to the far right, Vincent and Gregory flanking him - then said.

"It could, but I'm under several constraints that couldn't be fulfilled by the Hogwarts in my dimension," she said before her eyes focused on the beautiful silver-haired tabby cat now seated on the professor's desk. Blinking curiously, she then stood up and walked over, offering her hand for the feline's inspection. The cat leaned over to sniff her, and then she began to purr as she moved to stroke her head on Chikage's fingers. "And I'm more than glad that those who welcomed Grandfather here fifty-nine years ago were willing to do the same for me here." She then smiled as she returned to her seat, and then stared at the cat. "Shall we begin, Professor?"

People blinked . . . and then many cried out in shock as the cat leapt off the table and transformed into the transfiguration mistress. "Indeed we shall, Miss Hirosaki," Minerva said as she waved her wand to the door to close and lock it. "How, may I ask, did you sense who I was? Was it this _ki_ power you possess? What you used on Peeves just after breakfast this morning outside the Great Hall?"

"It was," Chikage answered. "All living things have a _ki_ aura. It is within the realm of possibility for all sentient beings to learn how to manipulate _ki_. It's very much like the magical aura wizards - in your dimension and mine - possess. My grandfather taught me how to read _ki_ auras. I happen to love cats; my half-sister Karen has a black-and-white American shorthair named Vanilla. Vanilla's _ki_ is that of a cat. Your _ki_ is still human even when you use your animagus abilities."

Minerva nodded. "Amazing. Well, let's begin." She turned to gaze on all of the other students in the room as she summoned the roll-book from her desk with her wand and then began taking attendance. Once it was done, she began, "Transfiguration is one of the most complex and dangerous magical skills you will learn . . . "

* * *

The Potions laboratory, third period . . .

"Ah, yes," Severus said as he got to that name on his list, his voice silky-smooth and full of ice. "Harry Potter. Our new _celebrity_ . . . "

Harry ignored the snickers from Draco, Vincent and Gregory, who were seated at the right side of the room. As it had been with the transfiguration lesson during the first period of the day, the students had seated themselves pretty much by house, though Camellia and Achelois seemed willing and ready to break that rule and sit close to Harry, Aesup and Brianna. The other Slytherins were stony silent, though they were staring intently at Harry as they watched his potential reaction to what their head-of-house clearly was about to unleash on him. He remained quiet and still as he stared at Severus, a sheet of parchment and his quill ready for writing down notes.

After finishing the roll call, the potions master began his speech, which had not changed in years. "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began in his normal quiet voice, which still carried throughout the room thanks to the excellent acoustics there, as he paced around the room. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really under stand the beauty of the softly simmering caldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death . . . " He then stopped as he stared at each person present. "If you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

_Wow! Now THAT'S a speech!_ Harry mused to himself as he quickly scanned those close to him to gauge their reactions. Draco and his friends looked quite self-confident, as did Blaise and Theodore. Pansy, Millicent, Daphne and Tracey all had neutral masks on their faces. Hermione looked determined to do anything to prove she was capable of doing what was needed to succeed in this class. Aesup and Brianna were attentive but relaxed. Ron's face was a mix of fear and hate. Neville was pure fear. Parvati and Lavender were also quite wary, but paying attention. Seamus and Dean were curious but wary; no doubt, they had been warned ahead of time by Ron (thanks to his brothers) of what to expect from the Slytherin head-of-house.

"Mister Potter," Severus then said. "Where does one find a bezoar?"

"In the stomach of a goat, Professor," Harry said as Hermione shot her hand up.

A touch of disapproval. "You've read ahead?"

"Yes, sir. After all, you're not just the potions professor here but a Potions _Master_," the younger man then said in a respectful voice. "To not prepare for your class is not only risking failure in this class, it's potentially life-threatening."

Severus blinked. "How did you come up with that, Mister Potter?"

"Sir, I've had little experience in brewing potions where I live . . . " - Which was a complete lie, both Harry and Severus knew, but they had their parts to play in this classroom at this time - "But I've read enough to know that some ingredients, if not handled properly in ANY circumstance, are not just dangerous, but _lethal_ as well. Not just to the brewer, but to those who are close to the brewer."

«_Giving a safety tip while you're at it, eh, Harry?_» Severus mentally called out as he stared intently into the younger man's eyes. Harry was quick to sense the approval in the potions master's mental voice as he then spoke out, his voice still cold and neutral, "Very well, then, Mister Potter. Let's see how you handle this, then: What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"They're two names for the same plant, Professor," Harry answered as Hermione stabbed her hand into the air. "It's properly known as aconite."

Not even a nod from the older man. "And what happens when you add powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Severus then asked.

"You produce a sleeping potion often known as the Draught of the Living Death, Professor," Harry calmly replied as Hermione seemed ready to leap out of her chair.

«_Enhance it_,» Severus mentally ordered.

"It's a potion said to be so powerful, it mimics death. To make it work, you also need valerian roots, sloth brain and a single Sopophorous bean that has to be shrivelled with direct sun exposure and crushed with the flat side of a silver knife," Harry carried out without breaking step, which made Hermione stare wide-eyed at him as she lowered her arm. From what he could see, some of the Slytherins - especially Pansy, Daphne and Tracey - were surprised at his considerable display of knowledge. "Cutting it with the knife doesn't guarantee that the bean's juices will . . . "

"Enough!" Severus snapped as he cut him off. "Five points for your cheek, Mister Potter!" He then stared at everyone else. "Why aren't you writing this down?"

Quills and parchments immediately were brought out as everyone moved to jot down notes. Once that was done, he turned to the blackboard, swinging it around to display the instructions he had written there that morning. "This is a potion to cure boils. Very simple and easy to brew. You will team into pairs and brew the potion. Make very sure you follow these instructions to the letter or there will be consequences."

People immediately partnered up. Harry teamed up with Achelois while Camellia and Aesup teamed up and Hermione teamed up with Brianna. Watching this, Severus was quick to see the disappointment in Ron Weasley's face as he found himself with Neville. The others in the class were soon into groups: Parvati with Lavender, Seamus with Dean, Draco with Gregory, Vincent with Millicent, Tracey with Daphne, and Pansy with Blaise (Severus would order Theodore to join them). As people got to work, Achelois and Harry quickly divvied up the tasks in getting things ready, the former preparing the ingredients from one of the supply shelves while the latter got the cauldron onto the burner and set out the tools. As they proceeded to work, Achelois kept Draco within her visual range as she proceeded to chop up the parts. "«_Get the charm, Harry-ya_,»" she whispered in Korean as she slowly measured out the dried nettles.

Harry said nothing as he reached down to the area between their chairs, his hand slipping into the side of her schoolbag to draw out an ofuda that had been given to him by Chikage before they headed off to classes. Standing up, he slipped it under the portable burner and tapped it with his fingertip to activate a shield charm that would quickly click on whenever something came flying close to the cauldron overhead. Once that was in place, he relaxed himself as he glanced around the room briefly. No one had seen him; Draco and Gregory were two rows ahead of him to his right while Vincent and Millicent were ahead of them by another row. With that, he got back to work.

«_What was that?_»

Harry didn't react as Severus swept between his desk and Aesup's, his face a scowling mask. «_Simple shield charm to make sure no one tosses in a porcupine quill while the cauldron's still on the burner_,» he calmly replied.

No acknowledgement from the potions master as he continued to pace, though he was quick to stop to unleash a scathing comment on Parvati and Lavender . . .

* * *

The Great Hall, lunchtime . . .

"So he docked you five points for cheek?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. I guess he was just after simple answers when he was quizzing me for information. I got nailed with five more points after an accident happened and the professor blamed me for not paying attention."

A snort escaped George Weasley, who - along with his twin brother and Lee Jordan - was now sitting with Harry and his friends at the end of the Hufflepuff table. "Don't be surprised at that, Harry," Fred then noted. "We even get docked points when we're in his class, even when we're not trying to prank someone."

"What happened to your roomie?" Lee, a dark-skinned boy with dreadlocks in his raven hair who was a year-mate of the Weasley twins, then asked.

"Either he or Ron forgot to get the cauldron off the fire before adding the porcupine quills," Harry said as he drank his apple juice. "Just boils on the skin; Ron had to take him to the hospital wing. Neville missed out on charms."

"That's too bad, Harry," Lee said as he sipped his pumpkin juice. "But don't worry about it. He's just one teacher. You can rake the points back with the others."

"Hopefully, Ron won't end up making things worse," George noted.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Fred noted as he and his twin exchanged a look, and then he sighed. "Harry, there's something we've got to tell you."

Harry perked. Around him, his friends all looked over. "What's that?"

"Our parents, as you probably know, were close friends with your parents. They fought together against You-Know-Who. Ever since you went off to be with your sister, our mom's been really worried about how you were doing." Fred paused as he considered what else to say, and then he took a deep breath. "She told Ron to be your friend."

The younger boy blinked. "Why? I mean, I do appreciate your mother's concern, but I'm alright. I live with my sister and I've got lots of friends, both where I live and across the country." He indicated the girls seated with them in emphasis.

"Mom won't consider them _true_ friends," George cut in.

"Why?" Achelois then demanded. "Because Melli and I are Slytherins? Because Chikage, Jane and Mary are Hufflepuffs? How bad does this go? Would she disapprove of Aesup because she's Korean or 'Mione because she's a normal-born?"

The twins winced. "Hey! Hey! Hey! Mom's not THAT bad!" Fred said as he waved the younger girl off. "But yeah! You and Camellia here would definitely not meet her approval whatsoever!" He closed his eyes. "Mom's pretty old school when it comes to dealing with people who were in other houses - she was a Gryffindor, too - even years after getting out of this place! What you guys are trying to do . . . "

"And it IS a good thing, by the way . . . " George cut in.

"Won't sit well with Mom," Fred finished.

"And that is what led to the war with Tom Riddle."

Eyes locked on Chikage. "Who's he?" Lee asked.

The traveller looked amused as she drew her tea cup close to her. "He's the _gentleman_ - and I use that term quite loosely - whose battle name you're all too afraid to speak out in the open," she said before sipping. "The name that translates to 'flight from death' in French. And you don't pronounce the last 't' in the name."

"The Dark Dunderhead, in other words," Harry added before he sipped his goblet of juice. "Grandpa Glaston and Chikage's grandfather knew him; he was a freshman in Grandpa's NEWT year. His real name is Thomas - he always went by 'Tom' - Marvolo Riddle. Head Boy in the 1944-45 school year. And by the way, he's a half-blood."

"Not to mention a bastard child, too," Jane added. "His mom was a squib who doused his father with Amorentia to make him love her and eventually marry her. He later got wind of what she did and dumped her out on the streets after she became pregnant with their son. She died at an orphanage and he was raised there."

Silence.

"Why the hell was THAT kept secret?" Lee demanded. "Holy . . .!"

"Search me," Harry said.

"No doubt because if Riddle's real story was let out, all the mudbrains that followed him would lose what little face they have left," Aesup noted.

The older people there took that in, and then they nodded. "Yeah, they would look like total berks if that ever got out," George stated. "Imagine it? The icons of pureblood supremacy and bigotry, all following a half-blood bastard!"

Fred laughed. "Now THAT is a prank!"

"I'd hardly call it a prank."

Eyes locked on Camellia. "What do you mean?" Lee asked.

"Almost six thousand people DIED because of that 'prank,'" the silver-haired girl said as she moved to sip her pumpkin juice.

Hearing that, the twins and Lee immediately sobered . . .

* * *

At the Slytherin table just behind where the Weasley twins and Lee were sitting, a whole group of people - spanning all seven years at the school - were open-mouthed with shock as their minds took in the words they had just overheard.

_The Dark Lord is a HALF-BLOOD?_ thundered through many of them . . .

* * *

"Miss Hirosaki?"

Chikage turned, and then she smiled. "Is there a problem, Professor?"

Albus' eyes were twinkling, but with less intensity. "I do apologise for interrupting your noon repast, but I have some unfortunate news for you," he said. "The news of your coming here reached the Ministry early this morning."

She blinked. "There isn't any problems with my being here, is there?"

"Oh, no! No! Of course not!" he cautioned. "Even now, the Ministry has no real control over who we accept as students; only the school's Board of Governors does, though they give me a considerable amount of discretion in that regard. But the Minister for Magic is coming here to meet you; he was actually a seventh-year student here at Hogwarts when your grandfather came to us for the first time. As you know, your grandfather's story is well known in our society and he considers it fortuitous that you have come here, so he wishes to meet you. The press will be here as well."

A sigh. "What time?"

"It'll be suppertime."

A nod. "Oh, very well, then. I suppose I can tolerate being part of a dog-and-pony show for a short while." Her gaze then sharpened. "But believe me when I say this, Professor: I will NOT be part of any idiot political game."

Albus also nodded. "More than understandable, my dear. As a matter of fact, Miss Bones' aunt will be accompanying the Minister, so I don't expect real problems."

She smiled. "I'll have my copy of the _Legis Magicus_ with me just in case."

"A wise precaution, my dear."

He headed to the head table to have lunch. Everyone watched him go, and then the older boys all turned to gaze on the traveller. "Um, much that I don't really want to risk being called a 'mudbrain,' but what's a 'dog-and-pony show?'" Fred then asked.

Laughter echoed over the room from the others . . .

* * *

The afternoon classes for the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs were composed of a double period with Professor Sprout as she introduced them to the greenhouses, then explained how magical plants often played a great role in things like potion making and the augmentation of a wizard's diet. Here, in comparison with what had happened in the Potions classroom before lunch, Neville Longbottom showed that he had a real green thumb. As did Chikage Hirosaki; her head-of-house was quick to learn the traveller - given her quite unique approach to magic (in comparison with those who were actually native to this universe) - had her own lessons to impart on her peers.

"All living things, as is known, have magic. By extension, all living things have what we in the Orient - and this applies to this universe as well as my own - have what is called _ki_." Here, Chikage drew her wand to aim it at the trunk of a newly-sprouted mandrake plant. "_Spiritus Examino_," she called out as a tendril of energy touched the brown plant, thus allowing various glowing lines to appear in the plant right into the soil in its pot. "See this?" she asked as people crowded around the pot to gaze on the plant. "This is the plant's natural _ki_ pattern I'm showing to you now. When you do something to the plant when you cultivate it, you break the _ki_ pattern and bring injury to the plant. This hurts them even if they don't exactly feel as we do. Even if they are not sentient as you or I, they ARE living beings." She gave her classmates a warning look. "Always treat them with respect." She tapped her heart with her free hand. "Do not and you will never gain their full bounty."

Nods around the greenhouse, especially from Pomona. "I was not here when he was here, but Miss Hirosaki's grandfather was quite the herbologist. He recommended a lot of changes in the practices we use with our plants. Those changes were adopted right away and we still use his practices to this very day." She then gazed on Chikage as the younger girl dispelled the Spirit Examination on the mandrake. "I trust you'll be available always to remind me of things I forget, Miss Hirosaki."

"I will endeavour to do so," the younger lady vowed . . .

* * *

While the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs were busy in the greenhouses, the Ravenclaws and the Slytherins had their turn at their introductory class in History of Magic. At the end of the second period, the latter group made their way to the greenhouses, passing by the former, who were finished for the day and heading to the dorms. "So how was history?" Chikage asked as they met up with Achelois and Camellia.

Both girls looked like they had just woken up from a too-short nap. "All the horror stories my parents told me about Professor Binns were proven true," Camellia moaned. "Did your grandfather have him when he was still alive?"

Chikage perked. "He's dead?"

"He's a ghost now. According to Mom, he died in the Staff Room sometime in the early 1940s and continued to teach without a body," Achelois added. "And he's as boring as Mom and Dad always said he was. I couldn't stay awake!"

"Me neither," Camellia said. "See you later."

Chikage hummed as the others headed off . . .

* * *

The Long Bridge, just after the start of final afternoon period . . .

"We're here!"

Chikage smiled as Achelois and Camellia came onto the Long Bridge from the academic wing. Behind them and the others, the remainder of the Slytherin and Ravenclaw first-years were making their way across the Inner Bridge, the structure that connected the academic wing under the headmaster's office with the dorms near the teachers' residences, so they could put their books away and finally relax before heading to the Great Hall for supper. "Good. Ready to take a step into history?"

"Sure thing," Achelois said as they all turned and headed back into the castle, passing the Muggle Studies classroom to the left.

Doing an "S" turn at the southwest landing, the group of two Slytherins, three Hufflepuffs and four Gryffindors walked past the potions, D.A.D.A., charms, duelling and basic arithmancy classrooms before reaching the base of one of the towers overlooking the greenhouses. There, the space was empty; the stairs that ascended to the library on the third floor at this location had been removed and the area sealed off over a hundred years before. "So where do we go now?" Harry then asked.

Chikage smirked as she walked over, drawing her wand and tapping a brick on the wall facing the direction of the greenhouses. The brick went in slightly as a muffled _click!_ echoed past them, and then part of the floor near Hermione gently folded down to form a set of stairs deep into the earth. A torch then lit up as Chikage waved her companions with her. "Before you ask, that brick does something else other than open this corridor down to the tunnel to the Vanished Wing. It also forms a combination of a Notice-Me-Not charm and a Confundus field that will make anyone who was coming by here at the time we wanted to go in believe they were staring at a blank space."

"Oh, a secret entrance! That's cool!" Achelois chortled.

"Are you SURE we won't get into trouble for this?" Hermione demanded.

Chikage sighed as she stopped at a corner into a tunnel that lead towards the outer wall of the grounds. "Hermione, my grandfather discovered this place in his second year. He - as well as his friends - made use of the Vanished Wing as their own private study space for the rest of their time at Hogwarts." As soon as the others got off the stairs to gather around her, the traveller tapped another brick to close up the stairways. "Always remember to close it up when you come down here. The charms may be effective in keeping people away, but we don't want accidents to happen."

The others nodded as they headed down the torch-lit corridor for a distance of fifty metres, where they encountered a solid flagstone wall. Chikage tapped a brick with her wand, which made the wall fold away like the wall separating the back patio of the Leaky Cauldron from Diagon Alley did. A heavy oak door lay beyond, barred by iron braces at four points above and below a sleeping portrait hanging on the door. Chikage stared at the picture of the thin wizard with the dark brown hair, moustache and goatee, a monocle over his left eye. "Good afternoon, Sir Edgar," she greeted.

The man in the portrait jolted as his eyes snapped open, and then he peered at the visiting children before he pulled up a telescope and stared intently at Chikage with it for a moment before his jaw dropped. "My word!" Edgar Stroulger, the inventor of the Sneakoscope - and (as everyone save Hermione also knew) the third Magical Shire Reeve of the Loyal County of Devon - gasped. "I don't believe it! You HAVE to be a relation to that bright fellow that was here . . .!" He then hummed before his eyes widened as information poured into his memory shade from the surrounding castle. "My word! Almost sixty years ago? Whatever happened to Ryūji anyway?"

"My grandfather is, back in my dimension, alive, though getting on in years, Sir Edgar," Chikage stated. "I am Chikage Hirosaki. May my friends and I pass?"

Edgar gave her a look. "Password first, my dear Miss Hirosaki."

"'If blood be the price of Admiralty, Lord God, we ha' paid in full!'"

A nod. "You may pass, my dear!"

The rods holding the door down fast slid into the surrounding earth and the door then opened, revealing a set of stairs heading back to ground level. "This way, everyone," Chikage then said as she beckoned everyone else to follow.

"Um, Chikage?"

"What is it, Hermione?"

"Why use a quote from Kipling?"

The traveller smirked. "Do you think normal wizards would know something like THAT, Hermione?" she said as she reached the top stair, and then drew out her wand to point into the air. "_Camera Lumos!_" she called out as the tip of her wand lit up.

Instantly, torches lining the central hall of the Vanished Wing lit up, revealing a space over half the size of the Great Hall, shaped like a pyramid from the inside and with corridors at the corners leading out into four large classrooms (each bordered to either side by smaller classrooms) in an "X" formation around the central hall. The corridor the students all stood in was an entrance hall leading back to the greenhouses; the one opposite their position lead out towards the road that would ring the east side of Loch Eigheach to Hogsmeade. As soon as a better level of lighting was in the room, the eyes of the people in all of the portraits focused on their visitors.

"Oh, my heavens! Young Harry! Miss Hirosaki! So you came here after all!"

Harry grinned. "Hi, Grandpa Glanmore, Grandma Elena!" he said as he walked over to one of the portraits, which displayed Glanmore Peakes and Elena Peach in a couples' portrait depicting them in their later years. "I never thought I'd see you two in a picture together unless you were visiting each other's portraits at the Reevewicks!"

The couple laughed. "Well, it was the delightful Miss Hirosaki's grandfather who insisted on _this_ portrait of us being pained and posted here," Elena, who was a slender and very pretty girl with her hair done up in the style that was common in the early eighteenth century, said. She then stared fondly at Chikage. "As for yourself, my dear . . . " She then bowed. "_Hoguwātsu-mahōdaigaku e yōkoso, Hirosaki-san._"

"You're slightly off, Dame Elena," Chikage said with a smile. "Hogwarts is not a university; that's what '_daigaku_' means. And you forgot that this is a private institution, not a public school. Since it's the equivalent of a combination middle and high school, the school's title is _Shiritsu Hoguwātsu-mahōchūkōtōgakkō_."

"Well, she was close," Achelois noted.

"Too true." Chikage then bowed. "I accept your welcome with due thanks and great humility, hoping I will be as much of an honourable guest within these hallowed halls as my grandfather was long before me, Dame Elena, Sir Glanmore." She then straightened herself as she then turned to stare at the other portraits in the central hall. "To all of you as well, of course," she then added with a polite smile.

Cheers and applause from the others portrayed there. "Um, can I ask something?" Hermione said. As the traveller stared at her, she asked, "Why call them as if they were knighted? I thought wizards didn't acknowledge the normal peerage system."

"Mainstream wizards normally do not, my dear," Glanmore said. "Young Harry, I do recognise all your friends save this one. Has she . . .?"

"She did, Glan," a voice called out from nearby.

Hermione looked over, and then she gaped. "Oh, my! You're the lady in the painting Ms. Boleyn has in her home!" she said as she walked over.

A delighted chuckle escaped Madelaine Oakby, the first Magical Shire Reeve of West Sussex and the great-grandmother of the founder of the Society for the Support of Squibs, a private charitable organisation founded in the late 1890s to give financial and moral support to the slowly growing number of non-magical purebloods in wizarding society. "You remember me, young lady," she said, and then she winked. "And by the way, you address her as 'Dame Janet' formally; she IS a Dame Bacheloress of the Realm."

Hermione perked. "'Dame Bacheloress?' I know of Knight Bachelors, but I always heard that women knighted that way by the Queen normally . . . "

"Are made Dame Commanders of the Order of the British Empire. Yes, dear, I know that," Madelaine calmly cut her off. "But there's an exception to that which is only applied to witches who are promoted to become Her Majesty's Magistrates Magical."

"Otherwise known as Her Majesty's Magical Shire Reeves of the Realm."

Silence.

Hermione turned to Harry, her jaw dropped. "The Magical Sheriffs . . .?"

The others nodded. "All those portrayed in this hall are the first generation of the modern Magical Sheriffs, who were appointed to act as the eyes and the ears of the Crown in the wake of the Separation Act of 1692," Chikage said. "In your readings, Hermione, have you ever deduced the real reason why the Statue of Secrecy was passed?"

Hermione hummed as she considered that point. "Well, the most often stated reason was that there was just too much rhabdophobia that was loose in the normal world at that time. Persecutions towards magical children all the way to burnings at the stake - the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts, for example - wizards and witches being forced to use their magic for the benefit of normals and an inability to get any sort of decent protection for magicals in Parliament." She then bit her lower lip for a second. "Still, there seemed to be something missing in all of the history books I've read of the period. I just wish I could put my finger on it, though."

Jane smirked. "'Mione, what was going on in the normal world at the time?"

The normal-born witch blinked. "Well, the Glorious Revolution happened three years earlier . . . " she began before she gaped. "But that wouldn't have . . . "

"'Mione, what happened in 1215?" Camellia asked.

A shrug. "The Magna Carta was passed!"

"Who didn't support it?"

Hermione stopped, and then she stared at Harry, who had a smile on his face as he held up his right hand, the House Ring on it. She blinked, and then she gasped. "The Wizards' Council . . .!" she breathed out. "Oh, God! You mean . . .!"

"King William III and Queen Mary II had only been rulers of the United Kingdoms for two years when they found themselves confronted with the Separation Act. That was forced on them by the Wizengamot in the wake of the passing of the International Statue of Wizarding Secrecy the summer before they took the Throne from King William's own father-in-law, King James II," Chikage said. "In essence, the Wizengamot took gross advantage of the confusion as the final major act of the English Reformation played itself out to make a clean break from normal society. Which was understandable; given how diminished the Crown's power was when compared to the power of Parliament, anything Their Majesties could do to help their magical subjects live peaceful and happy lives was something they were glad to help out with. Hence, the eternal loyalty to the Crown as guaranteed in the Preamble to the Separation Act, sworn by the Wizards' Council on behalf of all magical subjects in the United Kingdoms at the time. But when they were reminded that they still had absolute power over their magical subjects thanks to the Wizards' Council's earlier rejection of Magna Carta, Their Majesties decided to put in a guarantee to ensure no rebellion against the Crown - and by extension, into the normal world - would ever arise from the wizarding world." She waved to Glanmore's and Elena's portrait in emphasis. "They were the guarantee."

"That was our original duty when we were allowed to serve the Crown and Their Majesties as expressed in Paragraph 49 of the Separation Act, my dear," Madelaine added. "Over time, our duties and the duties of our successors to our various posts across the land expanded to ensure that there would always be a strong magical and legal counter-balance to the Ministry's overwhelming influence in the lives of many magicals in the Realm. Especially normal-borns such as yourself, Miss Granger."

"That's certainly been needed these last few years," Elena noted. "Eh, Maddy?"

"You are so right about that, Elena," Madelaine groaned.

Hermione took that in, and then she breathed out before she stared at Harry before her jaw dropped as a look of stunned realisation crossed her face. "Glaston Tore must have been one, too! What does that mean for Rose, Harry?" she asked.

He smirked. "When she gets her OWLs, Her Majesty will knight her as Grandpa Glaston's successor as the Magical Shire Reeve of Somerset."

"Magically, Rose is already seen as the Magical Sheriff of Somerset even if my mom has acted as the Acting Sheriff of Somerset since Sir Glaston died," Achelois added before she took a deep breath. "Okay, Chikage! We're here. What do we do?"

"_Tempus._" A ghostly clock appeared before Chikage. "It's 4:52 right now. Let's spend an hour here looking around the place to see what Grandfather may have left behind, then we'll head over to the Great Hall for my meeting with the Minister."

A snort. "He won't be Minister for long if he doesn't get his arse over to Windsor Castle to present himself to the Queen!" Glanmore snapped.

Chikage hummed. "Something I'll have to remind him of."

"Do you _have_ to?" Madelaine then whined. "The man is incompetent!"

The traveller smirked. "It's _giri_, Dame Madelaine. As a guest in this land, I am honour-bound to point out such a gaffe seeing as Her Majesty lamented the fact that she has yet to meet the man during our first meeting at Balmoral," she said as she gazed on the image of the first Magical Sheriff of West Sussex. "To _not_ do that will not do my karma any good. I would rather wish to avoid that if at all possible."

"A pity," Elena noted . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	6. The Elf Evolution

The Great Hall, over an hour later . . .

"Um, Albus . . .?"

"Yes, Cornelius? What is it?"

Cornelius Fudge blinked as he took a look around the Great Hall. Already, it was half-full as students were streaming in for the evening meal. "Um, not that I don't want to sound like I'm nit-picking about how you run the school, but why is it all the children aren't sitting at their proper house tables?"

Albus chuckled. Cornelius had come with a small entourage to the evening meal, including Delores Umbridge, Amelia Bones and the senior Barty Crouch. Also present was Kingsley Shacklebolt (who had come as the official Auror escort to the Minister's party) as well as Betty Braithwaite, who had won the chance to cover the story for the _Daily Prophet_ when she had been called over to Amelia's office to accompany them to Hogwarts. "Actually, Cornelius, it was Miss Hirosaki herself who reminded us all that seating via houses is not mandatory in the Great Hall save for the start- and end-of-year feasts, special feasts such as Hallowe'en and Yule and school-wide assemblies."

"Really?" Delores stated as she stared at the headmaster, her eyebrow arching with surprise. "When was that passed by the Board of Governors?"

"That has actually been in the _Regula Hogwarts_ since the founding of the school, Delores," Albus said. "Near as I could tell after I questioned the portraits of the Founders after Miss Hirosaki reminded me of that particular rule this morning, they find the 'schisms' - their words - between the houses most distressing." He paused as he dipped his fork into some kimch'i; he had found the traditional Korean side dish to be something quite tasty if a little on the spicy side. "As a matter of fact, Ryūji himself was appalled at how divided things were here back in the 1930s."

"So she's trying to promote a little house unity, you mean?" Amelia asked.

"Indeed she is . . . ah! There she is!"

Eyes locked over as Chikage walked into the Great Hall, followed by her friends. Immediately, they made their way over to the end of the Slytherin table and took their seats, digging in as soon as the food appeared before them. "Oh, my word!" Cornelius exclaimed with wide eyes. "Harry Potter's already become friends with her?"

"Oh, yes. As a matter of fact, Mister Potter and his sister have invited Miss Hirosaki to stay with them at their residence during her time with us."

"That was nice of them," Barty noted.

Delores frowned. "Albus, I've heard that Remus Lupin is living with the Potter siblings," she said. "I don't think the wizarding public would like the idea of the Boy-Who-Lived, the Girl-Who-Lived and the Young Traveller being close to a werewolf!"

"Oh, dear! That's terrible!" Cornelius gasped.

"There is nothing that can be done about that, Cornelius."

Eyes locked on Amelia. "What do you mean?" the Minister for Magic asked.

"Both the Lord Potter and the Lady Potter swore Loyal Oaths to the Queen when they were both capable of doing so, Cornelius," the Director of the D.M.L.E. said. "Those oaths are magically binding to both of them, forever swearing their magic to the service of the Crown. Mister Lupin also made this oath, as did the other werewolves now living close to the Potter siblings. And when they did that, they were forever made immune to any laws the Wizengamot may have passed which would have affected their lives, much less disqualify them from being the guardians of children."

Silence.

"What? That's preposterous, Amelia! The Queen has no right to do that!" Cornelius snapped as he stared wide-eyed at his chief law enforcement officer.

"On the contrary, Cornelius. Her Majesty is OUR Sovereign as much as she is the Sovereign of the muggles of this land," Albus warned. "Even more so, she has far more power over our lives that she ever would have in the muggle world. She simply chooses not to exercise that right save for special occasions. Like what happened to Harry and Rose. She felt - as we discussed this a couple of years ago when I was invited to join Harry and Rose to meet with Her Majesty at Windsor Castle - that while she does respect and approve of the laws concerning magical orphans, given what happened with Harry and Rose, it was better simply to make them Magical Wards of the Crown."

Cornelius gaped. "Albus! You mean . . .?"

"When did you learn of what happened to Harry and his sister?" Barty asked.

"I finally learned of Rose roughly a week after Harry left his relatives to live with her," Albus replied. "But before I could actually go meet them, I had to swear an oath on my magic and my life to ensure their place of residence remained - and remains now - secret. Given how much I feared that Voldemort's . . . " - He ignored the wide eyes, shudders and jolts as those around him reacted to his using that name - " . . . people would gladly seek to kill Harry for what happened ten years ago (much less possibly target young Rose), I was more than pleased to take such an oath."

The people around him gaped. "Well, if you felt so strongly about that, Albus, I apologise to you," Barty then said as he toasted the headmaster with his goblet. "And you're right. If those scoundrels knew where Lily was being hidden to ensure her daughter would be born alive and safe, who knows WHAT could have happened to her!"

"Hear! Hear!" Amelia said with a nod.

Taking that in, Cornelius nodded. "You're right about that, Barty. I'm sorry, Albus. I remember how passionate you were about keeping young Harry safe."

"It's a pity Glaston Tore wasn't recognised for his deed," Kingsley noted.

"Actually, Kingsley, he was recognised by the Queen," Albus said.

The visitors all looked surprised. "How was he recognised?" Amelia asked.

"Her Majesty looked upon the rebellion launched by the Death Eaters to be an insurrection against what is legally HER Ministry of Magic. Therefore, it was of equal and moral standing to an exterior war fought by her muggle troops against an enemy such as they did against Germany during the war with Grindelwald or against Argentina a year after Voldemort . . . " - Again, Albus ignored the shakes and jerks - " . . . fell over the Falklands. To that end, she was pleased to award Glaston and Lily the George Cross, the second-highest award of bravery in the United Kingdom. In the system of decorations, the George Cross takes precedence over the Order of Merlin First Class."

Jaws dropped as people took in that comment, and then Amelia nodded. "Well, at least they were recognised for their bravery," she said as she hoisted her goblet.

"Indeed they were, Amelia. Indeed they were."

The meal continued as the last few people came into the Great Hall to get something to eat. Eventually, as he noted that most of the people had finished and were now enjoying conversation with their friends, Albus then stood, waving his wand to unleash a _Baubillious_ charm to catch everyone's attention. As people quieted down and turned to gaze on him, the Headmaster smiled. "Good evening, everyone! I trust your first day of classes were enjoyable?" As cheers and whoops escaped many of the people in the room, he nodded. "Ah, wonderful!" he called out as he held up his hand to make everyone fall quiet again. "As we all know, last night at the Sorting Ceremony, we were blessed by the arrival of Miss Chikage Hirosaki, who has come here on her Magical Quest, walking in the footsteps of her grandfather Ryūji. Tonight, the Minister for Magic has come to officially welcome Miss Hirosaki to our dimension and our society. Without further adieu, may I present the Honourable Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Her Majesty's Minister for Magic of the United Kingdom. Minister Fudge?"

Polite applause echoed from the crowd as Cornelius stood. "Thank you, Headmaster Dumbledore, for your welcome. Indeed, it is very nice to be back at Hogwarts to enjoy a wonderful meal here, even for just one evening!" As more applause echoed from the room, the Minister for Magic took a deep breath. "My fellow wizards and witches of Britain," he began. "I was a student here about to begin my NEWT year at Hogwarts in September of 1932 when a most astounding event happened right at the night of the Sorting Ceremony that first day of the month!" A chuckle. "I remember that day well. The last of the new students had been placed into their houses and we were about to dig in to a wonderful meal when this bolt of LIGHTNING came out of NOWHERE to crash through the roof of this hall and strike the floor just beyond the tables there!" He pointed to a place beyond the ends of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables. "Once we all got our sight back, we were all astounded to see this young man from Japan standing there, dressed in a simple kimono and hakama, a hooded cape over his head. He had no money, no other clothes or anything to prepare himself for his time with us. All he had was an indomitable thirst for knowledge and a desire to do ANYTHING within the bounds of reason and magic to gain that knowledge!" Cornelius then paused. "When Headmaster Dumbledore - then our Transfiguration professor - went up to this young man and asked who he was and how on Earth he was able to penetrate through the impenetrable wards that protect this school from the muggle world beyond, he said five words, words which have rung throughout history since that time:

"'A humble traveller, seeking knowledge.'"

Applause filled the Great Hall. The Minister paused for a moment to allow that to pass through, and then he smiled. "I never had the privilege to watch that man grow up here while he was attending Hogwarts for I left the school at the end of his first year with us. In fact, I don't believe that even his best friend from Hogwarts - the late Glaston Tore - ever understood the full lengths by which that humble traveller who came to us that year went to learn magic. Not just here, but in SIX OTHER DIMENSIONS where he went to during summer holidays to explore magic in ways I doubt we could ever have conceived of before. Even more so, he never felt it proper to keep that knowledge just to himself. Many things in our world were touched by what he learned. New ways of practicing herbology that eliminated a dozen magical diseases within ten years of their introduction to our world. New ways of understanding and exploring the potential of potions. New ways of casting spells, both with wands and without them, so that we could live our lives better and with greater safety. Even many new charms he created or helped research so that we can better perform magic." He then smiled. "And speaking of which, we now know the greatest spell that he created while he was here, which he formulated for his OWL study with Glaston and help from several older students. The spell which - thanks to the noble and selfless sacrifice of that humble traveller's best friend that awful Hallowe'en night ten years ago - ensured that another new student who came to this school last night would have a sister with him when they united at last five years ago and became the family their late parents had always envisioned and You-Know-Who tried so desperately to deny them."

More applause. Cornelius nodded as he then waved to the end of the Slytherin table. "And last night, that humble traveller's granddaughter came to this school to join us and our society on her Magical Quest. Another humble traveller who came here seeking the knowledge we possess. And believe me, my friends, the fact that she was sorted into Hufflepuff makes THIS badger feel more pride in his house and his house's legacy than in any time since he himself was sorted!" As a wild whoop escaped all the Hufflepuffs in the room and everyone else applauded, he hoisted his goblet. "To that end, my friends, on behalf of all of us in the wizarding world of the United Kingdom and beyond, I wish to officially welcome Miss Chikage Hirosaki to our dimension and wish her the best in her Magical Quest. As they say it in your homeland, my dear: _Gambatte!_" He toasted her. "Please do your best and may your own prodigy follow in your footsteps when it comes time for them to perform their Quests!"

Another round of applause as Chikage stood and bowed to everyone in the room. She then raised her own goblet into the air. "My friends, may I propose a toast?" she then said as people fell silent and looked her way. "A prayer for peace and harmony in this land and amongst all of you. I vowed when I came here that I will do my best to ensure the _wa_ - the spiritual harmony - of your society would not be disturbed while I was here. As Grandfather did before me, I hope to pass on what I have learned before I came here and what I will learn during my summer trips to other dimensions to all of you. What you do with that knowledge is - and MUST ALWAYS BE! - your decision to make. But I only hope you will make that decision in the true spirit of the Kami of the Universe, from which we gain our gift of magic. To the peace of this land."

Everyone stood, goblets in hand. "To the peace of this land!" Albus called out.

"TO THE PEACE OF THIS LAND!" others in the room chanted.

They toasted each other, and then drank. Amelia then whispered something into Cornelius' ear. The Minister blinked, and then he nodded as everyone gaze curiously at them. "My friends, one final thing before I turn things back to the Headmaster so you can all return to your dorms," the Minister said. "Director Bones here possesses a message from Her Majesty the Queen. She wishes to read it to you all. Amelia?"

She nodded. "Please remain standing," she called out as she affixed a monocle over her left eye, and then unrolled a parchment she drew from her robes:

_To Our Subjects Magical,  
In the Immortal Spirit of Magic, We bid you Greetings.  
On the day this Proclamation Most Royal and Magical was written by Our Hand, We, at Our Castle of Balmoral, received unto Our Presence a Traveller from another dimension, who, in following tradition begun by her grandfather many years before during the Reigns of Our Late Grandfather, Uncle and Father, has come to Our Realm seeking to learn magic at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
In remembering the great services done by Ryūji Hirosaki, avowed servant of the Heavenly Sovereign of the State of Japan, unto Our Realm and Our Crown, We, on this, the first day of August in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety-one and in the Thirty-ninth year of Our Reign, do Proclaim the following:  
That __**Chikage Hirosaki**__ of the City of Kōtō of the Metropolitan Prefecture of Tōkyō in Japan, a Traveller from another dimension who has come to Our Realm to study magic at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, shall be seen in Our Realm as Our Noble and Most Honoured Magical Guest, to be accorded the same rights, protections and privileges as any Ambassador Magical Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Magical Papal Nuncio or Wizard or Witch High Commissioner to Our Ministry of Magic.  
This Proclamation is made under Our Prerogative and is issued in the forms prescribed by The Right Honourable the Lords Magical of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Wizengamot assembled as so dictated in Paragraph (2) of The Magical Pardon and Oath of Loyalty to the Crown Act, enacted 14 March 1703.**  
La Reyne Le Veult**_

Everyone froze for a moment as they felt a wave of magic wash through them, and then Albus looked up. "It is the Queen's Will. _La Reyne le veult!_"

"_La Reyne le veult!_" Harry chanted out.

"_La Reyne le veult!_" Hermione and Harry's other close friends chanted.

"_La Reyne le veult!_" the other known normal-borns solemnly declared.

The others nodded, even a surprised Cornelius Fudge and Delores Umbridge . . .

* * *

Later . . .

"Albus! What on Earth was THAT?"

Albus perked as people took their seats around the desk in his office. "What was what, Cornelius?" He offered his bowl of sweets. "Lemon drop?"

"No, thank you," the Minister stated as he picked up his tea cup and moved to sip from it. "I meant that surge of magic when Amelia read that letter from the Queen, Albus! I never felt anything like that before! What was it?"

A sigh. "Cornelius, you must remember that . . . " He then perked. "Ah, there she is! Excuse me for a second, Cornelius. Come in!" he called out.

The door opened. "You wished to see us, Professor?"

"Ah, Miss Hirosaki! Mister Potter! Do come in," Albus said.

"We apologise for disturbing you," Chikage said as she and Harry bowed before they walked in. She immediately came over to Cornelius, her hand out. "Minister?"

He took her hand in his own. "A pleasure to meet you at last, Miss Hirosaki. I trust your transition into our universe wasn't too harsh?"

"No, it was not. But then again, being supported by the spirits of five million dead from a massive earthquake and its aftermath makes inter-dimensional travel easy."

Everyone save Albus paled as she and Harry took their seats. "Five million dead from an earthquake?" Amelia gasped. "What on Earth happened?"

Chikage smiled, nodding her thanks as Albus offered her a lemon drop. "Japan is a very earthquake-prone nation, Amelia," the headmaster said as Harry took his own lemon drop. "In fact, Miss Hirosaki here told us that the earthquake that nearly killed her five years ago in her time is now officially called the 'Second Great Kantō Earthquake;' 'Kantō' is the name of the region of Japan Tōkyō is a part of."

"Well, at least you're alive and well, young lady," Delores noted.

"So I am, to which I am most grateful to the man who nearly sacrificed his life and magic to save not just myself, but all my sisters and over a hundred others, including all his students; he's an English teacher at a university town north of Tōkyō called Mahora," Chikage said. "However, I was in a coma for five years and had to be kept magically frozen to prevent my spirit from forever leaving this life for the next. Hence, when I came here - it was 2030 in my dimension - my grandfather arranged for me to finally return almost within days of my departure. To outsiders, it will be as if I had disappeared from society for five years, which is easily understood."

"You only intend to stay until your OWLs?" Betty Braithwaite asked.

"No, all the way to my NEWTs. You're from the _Prophet_, aren't you?"

A nod as the reporter introduced herself. Chikage then drew out a folded sheet of paper to hand to her. "This is a notice I would like put into the _Prophet_ as soon as space is available. If payment is necessary, I'll be pleased to give it."

Betty opened it and looked at it before blinking. "A request for people NOT to swear Magical Life Debts to you?" she then asked as she stared at Chikage.

"That is a reasonable thing to ask, Elizabeth," Albus stated. "Ryūji did the same thing shortly after he began his second year of study in 1933."

"It is, in essence, ensuring I don't end up killing someone unintentionally when I finally go home," Chikage added. "Say, for example, I was serving detention in the Forbidden Forest with another delinquent. An acromantula then attacks my classmate and I save him or her by stunning or killing the creature before Mister Hagrid came to rescue us." She gazed on Amelia and Kingsley. "That would be an incident that could be defined as grounds for the person I saved to swear a Life Debt, correct?"

"Indeed," Amelia stated, nodding in understanding. "I remember reading that your grandfather discovered that he couldn't stay more than one solar year in our dimension without travelling either back to his home dimension or to another one. Hence his 'summer trips.' I assume the same is for you as well?"

"It is, Madame Bones," Chikage affirmed with a nod. "The opposite is true as well. No one from here could stay in my dimension for more than a solar year before being automatically phased back into this dimension. Which entails all sorts of risks given planetary body movements and all that. You could literally find yourself phasing into the heart of the Sun or in deepest space before you knew what happened." As people around her winced as they imagined that, she then sighed. "And while the medical technology does exist in my dimension and time period where people could have their bodies cloned and their living spirits transferred into the new body, if someone from here did feel it necessary to follow me back home . . . " She shrugged. "I personally would feel quite terrible about that. To ask someone to literally leave behind EVERYTHING he or she has known for his or her whole life just to come live in my universe? That would be the ultimate form of defection in my eyes." She shook her head. "No. Grandfather was quite passionate about that when he sent me here. 'You come back here by **yourself**. Don't bring any stragglers with you, young lady!'" she then quoted in a fair rendition of Ryūji's deep baritone as she wagged her finger.

Laughter filled the room. "Well, that's a good thing in and of itself," Barty then noted before he made a face. "Dear God! They actually developed a means by which people can clone themselves in your world? If that was done in our society . . .!"

"It would be the worst form of necromancy!" Delores stated.

"Indeed, it would be, Madame Umbridge," Chikage said. "But all types of magical healing are a form of necromancy as I'm sure Doctor St. John - who is the godfather of Harry's sister Rose - and Madame Pomfrey would state. The technology I mentioned earlier is strictly controlled, but those who do use it like to take the more positive viewpoint about its use." As people looked at her, she smiled. "It saves lives."

Nods. "I supposed I should agree to that. I remember Hamilton; he helped me with a bad case of wizarding flu back in the early 1960s," Cornelius stated before he gazed at Harry. "And speaking of which, Harry, it's good to have you back with us! And thank you so much for allowing Chikage here to stay with you and your sister."

"It is _giri_, Minister," Harry said. "Grandpa Glaston - that's what Rose and I call Glaston Tore - and his family were happy to host Chikage's grandfather when he was here. Grand-uncle Ryūji paid that back in many ways, a lot of which . . . " He then shrugged. "Well, I can't tell you, sir. I took an oath on my magic and life about that, one I was more than happy to do even if I was only nine when I did it."

The visitors' jaws dropped. "You took an oath on your LIFE when you were just NINE?" Amelia demanded. "Harry, you were far too young to do something like that!"

"Oh? Rose is bound by the same oaths," he replied. "And she was bound to it right from birth thanks to Grandpa's sacrifice." Harry shrugged. "She never got the choice to decide whether or not to do it. In fact, there are a lot of things my sister never got a choice on. I had those choices. I always had them. But because my sister NEVER had the chance to make those choices about her future, I decided to follow suit even if I was six when I swore my magic to Her Majesty's service and then just a few years older when I vowed to keep Grandpa Glaston's secrets secret."

"Oh, dear . . . " Cornelius breathed out. "That poor girl."

"That is part of the reason those of us who knew of what happened to Harry and Rose ultimately surviving Voldemort's . . . " - Here, Albus ignored the jolts from the visitors as Chikage tried not to grin and Harry rolled his eyes - " . . . attack on Godric's Hollow swore oaths of absolute secrecy over what happened five years ago."

"And I agree to that now that I understand it, Albus," Cornelius stated. "Well, You-Know-Who is gone once and for all, so let's not worry about that."

"With respect, Minister, can you be sure of that?"

Eyes locked on Chikage. "What do you mean?" Barty asked.

A sigh. "I do not wish to sound alarmist, Director Crouch, but I have heard from several sources since I came here as to what befell that man when he tried to kill my friend." Chikage then turned to Harry. "Harry, when you dream of that night, you did specifically hear someone shout '_Avada Kedavra_' when Grand-uncle Glaston called out '_Sōsetsu-shi_' to cast the _Desidero Infantis_ to save Rose, right?"

He nodded. "I do."

"Oh, Merlin! You actually DREAM of that night?" Barty gasped.

"Many times, sir," Harry admitted.

"You poor boy," Amelia breathed out.

He then smiled. "Oh, it's okay. It doesn't hurt now like it did when I was still at my relatives and they were under the curses Dad put on Uncle and Aunt."

"Oh, speaking of which, Harry, there is one small concern we have about your living arrangements outside school," Cornelius then said. "While your case and your sister's case might be questionable about you living away from your mother's relatives due to your oaths to the Queen, there are many in our society who will . . . "

"Hate the idea that I have a lunar canine therianthrope as my guardian?"

Silence.

"'Lunar canine therianthrope?'" Amelia asked.

Albus chuckled. "Yes, Amelia. As you might know, Ryūji and Glaston first encountered our version of the _Mundus Magicus_ back in the summer of 1936. It is inhabited by humanoid wizards and witches that are descent from various magical animal species on that world; there are at least forty separate Tribes on that planet or so I've learned since I first looked in on Rose and Harry after Remus Lupin began living with them. 'Therianthrope' is the term Glaston coined for the natives of the _Mundus Magicus_; you would simply use a descriptive adjective to denote each one, such as 'canine' for the Kions or 'feline' for the Kiskas and Gepards. Eventually, the term - with 'lunar' as an adjective - came to be used among Glaston's friends to describe all types of lycanthropes, both real and mythological. Even Her Majesty uses that term when she thinks of those of her subjects struck by that disease."

"But what of the full moons, Albus?" Delores demanded.

"They take their Wolfsbane potion, ma'am."

Eyes locked on Harry. "Mister Lupin and the others that live close to you have access to that potion?" Amelia asked.

He nodded. "Uncle Hamilton makes it. As a matter of fact, he even shared his improvements to the formula with Professor Snape. He thinks it's great. And it's really cheap, too. You could easily make it for every therianthrope in the country." Harry then smirked. "So if that berk Greyback comes back, Aunt Amelia, all your people will have to do to him is give him a shower of _silver dust_ to get rid of him!"

Cornelius shuddered as Amelia found her cheeks turn red on hearing Harry call her "aunt." "Merlin! That sounds quite ghastly to me!" the minister breathed out.

Laughter filled the room. "We'll keep it in mind, Harry," Amelia promised.

Chikage then cleared her throat. "Speaking of Her Majesty, Minister Fudge, there is a little something she told me that I believe you need to know."

He perked. "What is that, my dear?"

"Her Majesty told me that in the Separation Act, Paragraph 21 specifically states that the twenty-eighth of December is the actual day a new Minister for Magic is to be sworn in when elected by the Wizengamot. A reflection, of course, of the anniversary of the Glorious Revolution that eventually allowed the magicals of this land to finally separate from all normal control," Chikage stated. "When I met Her Majesty at Balmoral at the start of August this year, she expressed her concern that you had not presented yourself to her after your election last year."

Cornelius tensed. "Well, since she really doesn't seem to wish to interfere in the lives of the wizards of this land, I felt . . . "

"Sir, you are correct about that part," Chikage stated as she gave him a very earnest look. "Her Majesty does wish her magical subjects to be able to rule themselves with no interference from her or from normal society. That she supports and will support to her dying breath. Still, she is very concerned about your life and magical safety, sir. She told me herself: Paragraph 91 of the Separation Act specifically states that upon election by the Wizengamot to lead the Wizards' Council, a new Grand Sorcerer of the United Kingdoms - that position evolved, as you know, into your post as Her Majesty's Minister for Magic in 1702 - must present himself or herself to the Sovereign within the year of that election to affirm his or her oath to serve and protect the people under his or her charge to the Sovereign, lest they be declared unfit for the role and deposed from the post, at cost to magic and life."

Silence.

"What . . .?" Cornelius eeped.

"How did you know that, Chikage?" Amelia asked.

The young girl smiled as she pulled out a book from the inside of her cloak, showing it to the visitors. "I also purchased this when I purchased my copy of the _Regula Hogwarts_, Madame Director," she said as she placed the _Legis Magicus_ on the headmaster's desk. "I read the Separation Act through from the preface to the last paragraph. It surprises me that no one briefed you on this matter, Minister."

"Seems to me like they were trying to set the Minister up to fall."

Eyes locked on Harry. Seeing the concern on his face, Cornelius shuddered as he quickly stood up. "It appears so, Harry. My thanks to you, Chikage, for telling me that. In the meantime, Albus, I think we'll head back to the Ministry so I can prepare to present myself to the Queen. Delores? Amelia? Barty? Shall we go?"

The others nodded . . .

* * *

Later . . .

"So I take it I won't have to perform in another dog-and-pony show, Professor?"

Albus was heartily chuckling as he followed Chikage and Harry down a hallway past the ground floor classrooms. "Oh, I'm sure you won't have to deal with Cornelius for a while to come, Chikage." He then sighed. "Though in the future . . . "

"It is hard to predict," Chikage finished for him.

A nod. "I am afraid so."

"I wouldn't really worry about that, Grandpapa," Harry said as they arrived at the old stair landing and Chikage drew her wand. "What comes will come."

"A good point. Now, Chikage, what do you wish to show me?" Albus asked.

She smiled. "This."

_Click!_ The headmaster blinked as he watched the stairs appear in the floor, and then he followed the two young children down into the tunnel. Chikage explained the safety precautions built into this part of the castle as they closed up the stairs behind them, and then headed down the tunnel to the end. Once the door leading into the Vanished Wing was revealed, the portrait of Edgar Stroulger was exposed. He was immediately awake and scanning her with his telescope. "Ah! You're back already, Miss Hirosaki! And with young Mister Potter, too!" He then focused on the older man. "Oh, Headmaster! I see Miss Hirosaki is making sure you know of this place!"

"Indeed she is, Sir Edgar."

"Password, please?"

"'If blood be the price of Admiralty, Lord God, we ha' paid in full!'" Chikage declared, and then she gazed on Albus. "Would you like the password changed?" she asked as the door unlocked and opened to allow them to pass.

"No, my dear, but thank you anyway," Albus said as they walked up the stairs into the entranceway. A glance behind him revealed the door that lead towards the greenhouses, and then he looked ahead as Chikage lit up the torches in the central hall of the Vanished Wing. "Oh, my heavens . . .!" he breathed out in disbelief.

"Ah! Hello, Albus! So you finally decided to visit this place, eh?"

Albus chuckled. "Indeed I did," he said as he walked over to the portrait of Honoria Nutcombe, the founder of the Society for the Reformation of Hags in 1702. That was hanging on one of the support poles holding up the roof of the central hall of the Vanished Wing. Despite the awful reputation hags as a whole possessed, Albus had always found Honoria's portrait in the gallery in the area of the moving staircases in the residential wing quite the conversationalist. "If I may be so bold, may I ask where you served, Dame Honoria?" he then asked as he gazed knowingly at her.

She gave him a toothy smile. "Ah! Glan told me you had taken _that_ oath! Good for you, Albus!" She then gazed on Harry. "Care to tell him, young man?"

Harry smiled as he gazed on the ancient wizard. "Grand-aunt Honoria was the first Shire Reeve of Middlesex, Grandpapa. She also patrolled the northwest side of Uncle Hogan's territory because London wasn't its own county at the time."

"Ah, I see! Well, I'm glad that the Crown was - and is - not institutionally blind when it comes to allowing deserving wizards and witches to serve."

Honoria cackled as laughter echoed from the other portraits. "Oh, we can tell you all sorts of interesting stories about us and our successors!" she said as she wagged her finger at the headmaster. "Why, we've had vampires and werewolves . . . " - She then blushed - " . . . er, pardon me! Lunar canine therianthropes! - serve as our successors." A playful wink. "They made some of the best Shire Reeves."

"And most passionate!" commented a gentleman from the wall behind Chikage.

"True! True!"

More laughter. "I shall try to make time to come here and learn all your stories," Albus then promised. "Ever since I learned that the post of Magical Shire Reeve still exists and are filled with such dedicated wizards and witches, I always found it such a tragedy that your true stories were never known." He waved to Honoria. "You're only known for your work in helping hags being better accepted in society. All Sir Glanmore is known for is his slaying of the Sea Serpent of Cromer. Dame Elena's participation in that event is TOTALLY unknown to mainstream society!"

"Young man, we did not become Their Majesties' Shire Reeves for fame or to get our names in history books," Madelaine Oakby stated. "Our purpose back then was much simpler and much graver." She nodded to Chikage. "She can explain it much better than we. It was the very type of responsibility her grandfather felt when he was here and he invented that astounding ward stone system of his."

Albus blinked, and then he stared at Chikage. "_Giri?_"

A nod. "_Giri_." She then sighed. "Would you like to see where Grandfather first created the _Kokujun_ and made it what it was, Professor?"

Albus nodded. "Please show me, my dear."

They headed to the northeast classroom . . .

* * *

Later . . .

"AH! STUDENTS IN THE CORRIDOR! STUDENTS IN THE CORRIDOR!"

Harry whipped out his wand on hearing Peeves' shout, and then he moved to scan the hallway ahead of him before he sensed movement to his right. His wand then snapped up, a _Reducto_ about to burst from his lips. Chikage's hand slapped his arm down. "Relax! We're with a professor," she said before looking over and smiling. "Good evening to you, Mrs. Norris. I trust the mouse hunting is going well?"

A friendly meow responded from the brown-and-grey furred, tabby-marked Maine Coon cat that just walked around the corner as Chikage knelt to offer her hand to her. Just as Mrs. Norris came up to sniff the offered hand, a growling voice then snarled from the corridor they had been walking towards, "I got ye now, ye delinquents!"

"Good evening, Argus," Albus then said.

Argus Filch came around the corner, an excited look on his face on seeing two first-year students out in the school well past curfew. He then stopped on seeing the headmaster there, and then he looked down before his jaw dropped. "What're ye doing?" he demanded as he leapt down to snatch Mrs. Norris from the floor.

Chikage blinked. "I was just being friendly with her, Master Filch."

He scowled at her. "No damned student of . . . " His brain then crashed for a moment as it finally caught up with his ears. "What did ye just call me?" he eeped.

"I called you 'Master Filch,'" the traveller said as she gazed at him. "You are the senior caretaker of the castle, which means you are the equal of any master of a household in any home. To not respect what you do in this place is most improper."

Argus looked gobsmacked as his mind tried to wrap around this young girl - a full-fledged witch - calling him, a SQUIB, "master!" Noting that, Albus smiled. "My apologies for having Mister Potter and Miss Hirosaki out so late in the evening, Argus. Miss Hirosaki was showing me a way to get into the Vanished Wing. That what where Miss Hirosaki's grandfather did his research once he discovered a way to get into there."

The caretaker blinked, and then he gaped. "Ye found a way to get into the Vanished Wing? Through that tunnel going under the greenhouses, right?"

Chikage gazed at him. "You know of it?"

"Only got as far as that damned door with that portrait of Edgar Stroulger on it! Never could guess the password!" Argus then blinked. "Strange . . . "

"What is it, Argus?" Albus asked.

"Now that I think about it, Albus, every time I went into that tunnel, I always told myself to go find ye - and Armando when he was headmaster here - to find some way to get past that damned password! But when I came out of it . . . "

"Oh, delightful!" Chikage moaned. "Harry, remind me when we go there tomorrow after classes that we're going to have to see what sort of defensive charms are there."

Harry nodded. "Right!"

"Actually, I'll go look myself at that tunnel tonight," Albus offered. "Much that I do admire your determination to set things right, Chikage, you don't possess any practical knowledge in ward magic. You and Harry turn in for the evening and I'll tell you what I found in that tunnel tomorrow morning at breakfast."

She nodded. "Fair enough, Professor." She then gazed on Argus. "Master Filch, please have a good evening. You as well, Mrs. Norris. Harry?"

"Good night, Mr. Filch, Mrs. Norris," Harry said.

They headed off to the stairwell to head back to their quarters. Argus watched them go, and then he blinked. "Just like her ruddy grandfather," he muttered before he headed off down a corridor with Mrs. Norris still in his arms.

Albus smiled as he headed off . . .

* * *

The Great Hall, Tuesday 3 September . . .

"«_So you decided to grace us with your presence today?_»" Blaise asked.

In Italian, of course.

Chikage gave his hand a friendly squeeze. "«_We did. When will you be so kind as to reciprocate? Most of the others in the student body are doing it._»"

He chuckled as he sat down and dug into his food. "«_No personal offense to you, Chikage, but many of us are still getting used to it._»"

"«_I'm not offended,_»" she mused as she bit into her kimch'i.

"If you don't mind my asking, what is that, anyway?" Pansy wondered; she had been enjoying her breakfast when everyone had come over to join them.

"Kimch'i," Aesup said. "Native Korean soul food, Pansy."

"High in fibre, vitamins and minerals. And for wizards and witches, contains a very high earth magic content which certainly can improve your own magic."

People stared at Chikage. "How's that possible?" Theodore asked.

She smiled. "All things have magic, Theodore," she stated. "Food is no different than anything else. But since this dish is made in the traditional Korean way - which is always to ferment it in a clay pot buried in the ground - it had the ability to absorb the ambient magical energy in the earth itself, which is then passed on to whoever eats it. Aesup, your home is quite close to a ley line, is it not?"

"Actually, it's on a minor ley line that allows _Ŏmma_ to grow all her food in her own garden the way she did back in Korea. And the stuff is really good when she prepares it. That's why _Appa_ bought the place," Aesup said. She stared at Pansy as she picked up the bowl of kimch'i and held it out to her. "Care to try it?"

She blinked, and then she reached over with her fork to take a sample, and then she took it into her mouth. Her eyes widened as she bit into the spices, and then she swallowed it before reaching for her goblet of pumpkin juice. "That's spicy!"

"It's not too bad," Blaise noted; he had got a taste thanks to Chikage.

Chikage then looked towards the back of the room. "Mistress Curly?"

_Pop!_ "Mistress Chikage! You no calls Curly 'Mistress!'"

The traveller smirked as she gazed on the house elf, who was staring at her with comically-wide eyes. "Mistress Curly, would you please fetch some more kimch'i for Pansy and Blaise?" Before the quivering elf could say a thing, Chikage looked at the others at the Slytherin table. "Anyone else care to partake?" As shouts of approval from others at the table echoed her way, she added, "Them as well."

Curly shuddered. "Curly will does so! But you no calls Curly 'Mistress!'"

"At once, Mistress," Chikage prodded. "Please?"

A pained and embarrassed wail escaped Curly before she popped away. Watching her go, Chikage smirked before she turned back to her food. "Why were you teasing her?" Daphne asked as more bowls of kimch'i appeared beside everyone's plates.

"I wasn't teasing her, Daphne," the traveller stated. "I was just acknowledging her properly as one of the mistresses of the kitchen. They do all that work for us and never get any sort of respect for it. Yes, as house elves, they're genetically moulded to serve a human master - or in her case, the 'household' here at the castle - but it doesn't mean we shouldn't respect them for all the work they do."

"I agree," Hermione noted. "When I learned of them, I thought it was horrible that a whole _race_ was enslaved to wizards." She then sighed. "I was tempted to try anything to help them be free." Another sigh. "Until I learned otherwise."

"What made you change your mind?" Tracey asked.

"Harry," the normal-born said with a smile as she indicated her friend. "He and Rose have house six house elves serving them; they inherited them from Glaston Tore. They're well-treated and very powerful magically." She stared at Chikage. "Chikage, I heard it was your grandfather that created the process that allowed Harry's and Rose's elves to appear and act human. Could that be done with any house elf?"

Jaws dropped on the other Slytherins' faces as they took that in. "Yes, it was Grandfather that created the _Aelf Evolutio_ process," Chikage stated. "Believe it or not, Hermione, Grandfather was once just as passionate as you are when it came to how house elves were treated here. But try as he might, he could never find a way to break that part of their genetic code which forces them to be enslaved to humans."

Hermione breathed out. "That's too . . . "

"WAIT!" Millicent barked out as she got up and walked over to stand beside Harry. "Potter, you've got elves that are HUMAN?" she demanded.

Harry nodded. "Of course I do."

"Why?" Pansy demanded.

A shrug. "Why not?" He then hummed before looking over. "Professor Flitwick?"

The diminutive teacher, who had been walking up to the head table to enjoy his own breakfast, perked on hearing the voice of the son of one of his favourite students, and then walked over. "What is it, Mister Potter?"

"Professor, I'm really sorry to ask you this, but I'd like to invite one of my house elves over here so I can show everyone what happens when a house elf undergoes the _Aelf Evolutio_ process Chikage's grandfather made."

Filius blinked. "'_Aelf Evolutio?_' I've never heard of this process!" He stared at Chikage for a moment before turning back to Harry. "By all means."

"Thank you, sir. JANE!"

_Pop!_ "Master Harry, you know you can't invite any of us here while you're at school! What are you trying to do? Get yourself detention?"

Jaws hit the floor while the older male students - and some of the female ones too - close by found themselves drooling at the sight of the very sexy Jane Porter. "_**WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME IS THAT?**_" Draco demanded as he pointed, bolting up.

Harry smiled. "One of my house elves, Draco. What do you think she was?"

"_**SHE LOOKS HUMAN!**_"

Jane made a wave of her hand, which made Draco's mouth flap open and closed, but no sound came out of it. "Master Draco, please calm down. The acoustics of the Great Hall are more than ample enough to allow people to hear you without you raising your voice." She tensed on hearing laugher from some of the others in the room. "_**Why are you all laughing at him?**_" she said in a sharp voice which made everyone clam up as they stare with dropped jaws and wide eyes at her. "Are you laughing at him because he panicked on seeing me? Or are you laughing because he's a Slytherin?" She then turned back to Draco, who was gaping in shock at her leaping to his defence. "My apologies, Master Draco," she said as she allowed sound to come from his mouth.

Draco blinked, and then he smiled, his cheeks flushing lightly. "It's no problem," he said with a shrug before he sat down.

The others just stared at her. "Oh, my heavens!" Filius breathed out.

Jane suddenly wailed. "Aaaaaah! Master Filius! Stop sending spells at me!"

The charms teacher then jolted. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!"

She giggled. "Oh, they didn't hurt me, Master! But they do tickle!"

Filius shook his head. "My word! This is the most incredible spell work I've ever seen!" he breathed out as he stared at Chikage. "And your GRANDFATHER did this?"

"He did, Professor. By the way, it's not all charms work. There are potions involved, too," Chikage said as she slightly smiled. "In fact, Professor Snape, if you're interested, I just found Grandfather's notes on the potions used in the _Aelf Evolutio_ in his private study room over in the Vanished Wing. Would you like to see them when we have first class this morning?"

Severus perked. "Indeed I would, Miss Hirosaki. Oh, and Mister Potter?"

Harry perked. "Yes, Professor?"

"Ten points to Gryffindor for your elf's defence of Mister Malfoy."

Harry nodded. "On behalf of Gryffindor, I accept the points awarded and your judgement on that matter, Professor Snape," he said with a bow of his head.

The others in his group were quick to see no protest - not even crossed looks - from many at the Slytherin table on seeing their head-of-house do that to him, not even Draco. "As a matter of fact, let's expand on that," Filius said as Severus walked to the head table. "Miss Hirosaki, you have your first class with me today, correct?"

"Last two periods this morning with our gracious hosts," Chikage confirmed.

Many of the Slytherins blushed. "Well then, if you have your father's charms notes for this, why don't you bring them to class so I can see them?"

"I'd be pleased to do that for you, Professor," the traveller stated. "As a matter of fact, Achelois', Camellia's, Jane's, Marian's and Megan's families have elves that have undergone the process, so they can come as well."

Filius nodded. "I would appreciate that."

"Thanks, Jane!" Harry said.

Jane nodded as she popped away. "And what brought Miss Porter here today, Mister Potter?" a voice then asked from somewhere behind Harry.

"That was my fault, Albus," Filius said as Albus came up to join them. "Mister Potter told me of this _Aelf Evolutio_ process that Miss Hirosaki's grandfather had created while he was here and he asked my permission to bring Jane . . . " He then stopped before staring at the headmaster. "Excuse me? 'Miss Porter?'"

Harry smiled at him. "That's Jane's name when she goes out among the normals, Professor Flitwick: Jane Porter. Grandpa Glaston named her. All our elves have full names they use so that when they meet up with normals - like when Rose and I went to our prepatory school before I came here full-time - people won't start questioning why what appear to be normal-looking people don't have family names."

"Why not just keep them invisible?" Draco asked.

"Draco, part of the reason my grandfather created the Elf Evolution process was to ensure those who undergo that process don't have to, from the point they become fully human for the first time, expend unnecessary levels of energy in keeping themselves invisible. House elves are very powerful, but even their power has limits," Chikage stated. "Most of my friends here either live among normals or deal with normals on a frequent basis. It's less taxing on the Obliviators when you don't have to call them over to have people's memories modified if they see a human-looking and human-acting house elf instead of a house elf in his or her birth-form."

Draco blinked and then he shook his head. "It's stupid."

Chikage and Harry shared a look before they turned back to their breakfast. "Oh, Miss Hirosaki, just to inform you of that problem from last night," Albus then said. "The matter has been resolved. There should be no more incidents."

"Fair enough, Professor. Have a good meal."

"So I shall."

Albus and Filius headed to the head table . . . just as the first of a small fleet of owls flew into the Great Hall carrying the morning post. "Alright! The mail's here!" Aesup said as Emille landed on her shoulder, leaning in to gently nib her ear as she took the letter tied to her leg in hand and opened it to read.

Hedwig did the same to Harry. "Hey, Hedwig!" he said as he offered the white snowy owl a slice of bacon. Naturally, Hedwig wasn't going to refuse THAT, of course. As she nibbled on the bacon, Harry took the letter from her leg and then opened it just as Hermione was doing the same for the grey-and-black eagle owl now on her shoulder.

"That's a beautiful owl you have, Hermione," Blaise said. "What's her name?"

Hermione smiled. "First of all, 'she' is actually a 'he.'" As the owl hooted in agreement, she reached up to pet him. "And his name is Menelaus."

Achelois laughed as her own owl, a nearly-white long eared owl, also hooted. "Figures you'd name him after you own namesake's father, 'Mione."

"How'd you know that, Achelois?" Pansy asked.

"Pansy, didn't your parents ever tell you about my family? Crazy obsession with all things Greek and mythological?" the other girl reminded her.

Pansy blinked, and then she laughed. "Right! Forgot about that!"

"So what's your owl's name, Achelois?" Tracey wondered.

"Rhea."

"The mother of the major gods of the Greek Pantheon, goddess of the Earth and one of the Titans of Myth, the beloved of the Mother Goddess Gaia Herself," Chikage noted. She was the only one without an owl as she continued to eat her breakfast.

Everyone was quick to see the traveller sitting there _sans_ a pretty avian on her shoulder. "Don't you have anyone writing to you, Chikage?" Daphne asked.

The traveller smirked. "I'm from another dimension, Daphne. And I will return to my proper place in space-time virtually almost at the same moment that I left. Who would I write to, much less who would write to me?" she asked. "No magical creature, not even a phoenix, can survive a full transition from one dimension to another. When Professor Dumbledore found out the truth of what happened to Harry's sister Rose five years ago and tried to contact my grandfather about it, he sent Fawkes to my dimension. If it was not to Grandmother Nicole - she's the co-head of the company that helped sponsor all the treatments I needed to recover from Second Kantō - Fawkes would have died had his link to this dimension and this world been severed. Once they're cut off from the planet they were born on, all magical beings die. I will not subject such beautiful entities like Hedwig, Emille, Menelaus, Rhea and the others to such torture."

The named owls all hooted on hearing her speak of them. "You're an odd duck, Hirosaki!" Millicent then said as she stared at the other girl. "You tease elves all the time but you treat owls like they were your own brothers and sisters!"

"Millicent, I do not TEASE house elves," Chikage countered. "I simply respect them for all the good work they do for my friends and I. It's not my fault that they can't allow themselves to comprehend something like that." She sipped her tea. "Even the ones Grandfather's processes have helped can't seem to understand that."

The others hummed. "Right . . .!" Millicent drawled.

Everyone else laughed . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	7. Harry's Decision

The Potions classroom, first period . . .

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," Severus began in his normal quiet voice as he paced around the room. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really under stand the beauty of the softly simmering caldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death . . . " He then stopped as he stared at each person present. "If you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs all remained perfectly quiet as they gazed expectantly on the potions master. Everyone had quills in hand and parchment at the ready as they kept their eyes locked on him as they awaited his every word. That made him feel quite good. Unlike the classes containing either the Gryffindors or his own Slytherins, this was a class Severus actually enjoyed teaching. While there were the bright stars in those houses - Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Aesup Mun, Daphne Greengrass, Blaise Zabini and Tracey Davis had done sufficient work in their first class the previous day - the majority of them didn't really care too much for what was learned here. The Eagles of Filius' house, however, ALWAYS drove themselves to be prepared to deal with almost anything he could toss at them. And the Badgers under Pomona's charge were hard and diligent workers, understanding that they were here to _learn_ something that would have a large factor in their lives even if they didn't have the right stuff in their hearts to become future Potions Masters or Mistresses.

"Miss Turpin, in preparing the Draught of the Living Death, how does one deal with the sopophorous bean?" he began as he stared at the blonde Ravenclaw.

"Always crush it with the flat of a silver blade, Professor," Lisa replied as she stared at him, her voice calm. "Doing that ensures as much of the juice within the bean is released. Cutting it, pardon the pun, doesn't cut it."

Laughter filled the room. "An interesting way of looking at things, Miss Turpin. Mister MacMillan, what should be the shape of the bean before it is used?"

"Shrivelled, Professor. Preferably for a week under direct sun."

"Sufficient. Miss Lì, what are some other names for aconite?"

"Wolfsbane, monkshood and _wūtóushǔ_."

Severus perked. "Where did you get the third word from?"

Sǔ blushed. "It's the Mandarin name for aconite, Professor."

"Ah! Miss Hirosaki, the Japanese and Korean translations."

"In Japanese, _akonichin_ or _torikabuto_. In Korean, _paekpuja_."

Severus nodded. "Miss Patil, where does one find a bezoar?"

"In the stomach of a goat, Professor," Padma replied.

"Mister Finch-Fletchley, what are the uses for the bezoar?"

"It's the antidote of most poisons, Professor."

A nod. "Think this is the same as chemistry?"

Justin lightly smiled. "It's different in some ways, sir."

"But not so in others," Severus warned. "For the other normal-borns here, let this be a reminder to you all. When you were in chemistry classes in your old schools, you were always supervised by your teachers to ensure no injuries. There is a reason for that. What would that reason be? Anyone?" Hands went up. "Mister Hopkins."

Wayne stood up. "Because if you don't handle certain chemicals the right way, you can injure yourself or anyone close to you."

"Good. There's no need to stand up in this class, Mister Hopkins. I do appreciate the show of respect, though." As Wayne sat down and some people giggled, the potions master came to the front of the room. "Safety in this class is paramount. In your counterparts' class yesterday, we had a very bad accident with a simple potion I had them prepare. Fortunately, the wounds were not severe and easily dealt with by Healer Pomfrey. But as you progress towards your OWLs and especially towards your NEWTs, you will deal with potions of increasing complexity, which automatically entails greater risk if you are not paying attention." He turned the blackboard around to show the instructions he had placed there. "This is the same potion your counterparts were given yesterday. A very simple boil-removal potion. Pair up and prepare it."

He watched as the class went into teams and began to work. Much to his inner delight, the differences of houses didn't seem to matter here: Kevin teamed with Zacharias, Lisa with Megan, Terry with Wayne, Anthony with Ernie, Justin with Michael, Susan with Hannah, Padma with Mòrag, Lisa with Jane, Mandy with Sally-Anne, and Sǔ with Marian. Chikage had remained back, no doubt not wanting to impose herself on others, especially given how much the Ravenclaws probably were still hurting at the thought of Ryūji Hirosaki's granddaughter becoming a Hufflepuff on coming here. "Miss Hirosaki, team up with Miss Bones and Miss Abbott for this class. Before you do, though, do you happen to have your grandfather's potions notes for the _Aelf Evolutio_?"

"Right here, Professor," Chikage said as she held up some rolled parchment as she came up to him. "The notes are in Japanese, but Grandfather enspelled them for others to read; use _Translatus English_ to get it to read your language."

A nod. "Go work with your friends," Severus said.

She nodded and headed back to the table . . .

* * *

North of the academic wing, by the northern walls . . .

"«_Listen to these idiots,_»" Aesup muttered under her breath in Korean.

"«_Tell me about it,_»" Harry said as he said with his friends close to the tumbledown on the hill where two rows of brooms were laid out as they awaited the chance to learn how to fly from Rolanda Hooch, the school's flying instructor and Quidditch coach/referee. "«_The way Draco talks, he's probably had more near-misses with a Boeing 747 out of Heathrow than speeders trying to avoid a hundred-car pile-up on a German autobahn! And Seamus? Give me a break! He said that he never found out the truth about his mom being a witch until he was eight! Carrickfergus doesn't have much in the way of 'normal' wizards and witches living there! I should know; Rose learns all the goings on in Northern Ireland every time she meets the Queen!_»"

"«_They're just being braggarts, Harry-ya,_»" Camellia said with an amused smile. "«_They don't know what happens when people first try out brooms._»"

"«_Especially girls,_»" Achelois added with a sigh.

Harry blinked, and then he nodded in understanding. When he started forming close friendships with his female friends - this was after his old schoolmate from Millfield, Donald Hawkhurst, had asked him to not hurt the feelings of his sister and Harry's first true normal friend, Simone - Lilian had told Harry about a hidden part of first-year broom-flying lessons when it came to girls: The school brooms were enspelled to painlessly break a girl's hymen when she first flew on it. And while it did seem wrong to steal a woman's physical virginity at such a young age, there was an ugly and practical reason for it: The existence of dark spells and enchantments that had a very nasty effect on virgin girls, magical and normal alike. Harry himself had heard from Nancy Snagge of what happened once, just before he died, when Glaston Tore caught a pair of sympathisers to Voldemort trying to drain the blood of two normal virgin teenagers in a way of creating a deadly potion meant as a biological weapon.

Of course, as neither of the would-be rapists were marked by Tom Riddle's personal brand, Glaston could not use _Morsmordre Avada Kedavra_ on them.

What he had done to them had been MUCH worse . . .

" . . . bet that Harry here can out-fly you any day of the week, Malfoy!"

Harry perked on hearing his name spoken out, and then he turned to stare at Ron Weasley, who was now waving towards him as he glared at Draco Malfoy. Blinking in confusion as he tried to wonder what the heck his housemate was talking about, he then turned to his friends. "«_What's going on here?_»" he demanded in Korean.

Aesup shrugged. "«_Search me, Harry-ya . . . _»"

"HARRY! Will you quick talking in that stupid language and speak normal for a change?" Ron then snapped. "I'm trying to defend you here!"

Harry jolted and then his eyes flared as he glared at the redhead. "Excuse me, _Mister_ Weasley, but what in the name of the Fates are you talking about?"

Ron's jaw dropped as people around him began to laugh. "B-but . . .!" he sputtered before he waved at the girls that were close to him. "Why are you always spending time with them for anyway?" he then demanded as he pointed to Aesup, Brianna, Achelois and Camellia, a sneer crossing his face as he glared at Harry's lady friends from Slytherin. "You got better things to do then spend time with those snakes!"

Silence.

Harry blinked, and then he sighed as he crossed his arms. "What makes you believe that you can dictate to me who my friends are and who are not?"

"Because I'm your friend!"

More silence.

Harry blinked. "Since when?"

"News to me," Brianna noted.

"Definitely news to me," Aesup added.

Ron's jaw began to flap up and down in shock. "B-but . . .!"

Harry sighed. "Lord Malfoy?"

Draco jolted, his jaw dropping in shock as his mind nearly short-circuited on hearing Harry call him by his formal title, and then he quickly recovered as he gazed intently at the other boy. "Lord Potter?" he said with a bow of his head.

Harry then sighed. "Lord Malfoy," he then repeated as he nodded at Draco, and then he gazed at the other Slytherins in turn, nodding as he addressed them. "Lord Crabbe. Lord Goyle. Lord Nott. Lord Zabini. Lady Parkinson. Lady Greengrass. Mistress Bulstrode. Mistress Davis. Lady Runcorn. Lady Matthews. On behalf of my housemates, I would like to humbly apologise to each and every one of you, as well as your housemates in the elder years now attending this school, for Mister Weasley's most disgusting insult towards you all." He deeply bowed his head as he turned his hands and made a penitent gesture with them, which made all the Slytherins save Achelois and Camellia gape in stunned shock at him. "Be assured, regardless of what happened years ago when we were all newborns in this land and how that reflects on my opinions towards some of your families, this man _does not_ and _will never_ speak for me."

Even more silence.

"Lord Potter, I believe I speak for my honoured friends currently in the House of Slytherin," Daphne then said with a smile. "While we can sense your words are sincere and spoken with honesty and truthfulness in the most noble traditions of the House of Gryffindor, we cannot, in all due conscience, accept such an apology." She then stared at Ron as the smile slipped from her face. "Especially since you feel yourself forced to apologise for the behaviour of such an uncouth wizard as he."

"Indeed, dear friend, you speak the truth," Pansy added as she gazed on Daphne before turning to redefine "glare" at Ron. "It is a terrible shame that someone of such good and noble birth as Lord Potter presently feels it necessary to apologise for the actions of one he was forced by mere Fate to call a housemate."

"Hear! Hear!" Blaise said, nodding in agreement.

"At least he is not seen as a friend to the Marquess Potter," Camellia noted. "Lest he be declared foresworn unto the day we all face our next life."

"Indeed so," Achelois added.

"What's going on here?"

Harry perked, and then he smiled as he turned to the just-arrived Rolanda Hooch. "Madame Hooch, a thousand humble pardons," he said as he bowed formally to her. "We were just seeking to correct a minor but vital point of etiquette that my housemate here flagrantly breached in front of our honourable schoolmates from Slytherin."

Hearing that, Ron found himself sputtering as the Slytherins all smiled while the other Gryffindors were either shaking their heads or trying to make themselves as unnoticeable as possible. "I see," Rolanda mused, her eyebrow arching. "Well, much that I'm personally VERY impressed that you're trying to promote school unity, Mister Potter, we're here today to learn how to fly on a broom!" She then stared at the others. "So let's all line up alongside our brooms and we'll begin!"

Everyone else nodded as they moved into position, leaving Ron standing there with his jaw still hanging somewhere down around his knees . . .

* * *

After the end of second period, on the Long Bridge . . .

"WHAT happened?" Jane gasped.

Everyone relaxed themselves alongside the southern wall of the bridge as they gazed out onto Loch Eigheach. Every once in a while, one of the crimson tentacles of the giant squid that lived out in the lake would break through the waves like the periscope of a living submarine, seemingly wave absently at someone on the shoreline close to them before disappearing underwater. "While he was learning how to fly on the broom, Neville had an accident and dropped the Remembrall that was given to him by his grandmother before he came here. Draco picked it up and flew towards a tree - he's a really good flyer, believe it or not! - to drop it off on a branch while Madame Hooch was busy in the hospital wing with Neville." He shrugged. "I know how much Neville values anything given to him by his grandmother, so I went after Draco. He panicked when I came after him and he dropped the Remembrall. I dove after it . . . "

"And performed a perfect recovery from a twenty-metre dive, just a half-metre off the ground!" Aesup finished with a laugh. "If he was a seeker in quidditch and he had the opposite team's seeker coming after him think he was going after the snitch, that would've been the set-up for a perfect Wronski Feint." She then shook her head.

"So what happened?" Marian demanded.

A sigh. "Professor McGonagall saw that. At first I thought I was in for it - Madame Hooch told us to stay still and not fly around - but she dragged me off to find Oliver Wood before he went into History of Magic," Harry explained. "He's the captain of the house quidditch team. She wanted me to become the new team seeker."

"So what happened?" Hermione urged.

"I refused her."

Silence.

"You refused to join your house team?" Chikage asked with a smirk.

A sigh. "Hermione, could you quote for me what was written on the bottom of the school supply list that was sent to us with our invites?" he asked.

"'Parents are reminded that first years are not allowed their own broomsticks.'"

Harry nodded. "I had no choice."

"WHY?"

He turned to see a wide-eyed, jaw-dropped Ron standing nearby, with Fred, George and Lee Jordan standing behind him. Before Harry could say anything, the youngest Weasley marched up to him. "Why are you refusing to play quidditch?" he demanded. "You're a natural flyer, Harry! Professor McGonagall said so herself! Why don't you play? Oliver says you're perfect to be a seeker! Why're you turning it down?"

Harry blinked, and then he sighed. "So I can play and you can't! Is that it?"

"What's that got to do with it?" Ron demanded.

Harry sighed. "Ron, don't you want to play quidditch?"

"Of course I do!"

"Then why aren't you being allowed to do so?"

Ron stopped, his jaw dropped. "What does that . . .?"

"Ron, personally, I don't care too much for quidditch," Harry confessed.

Silence.

"WHAT? WHY NOT?" Ron screamed as Fred, George and Lee all gaped.

Harry took a breath before closing his eyes and then gazing at Hermione. "'Mione, can you quote what was on the supplies list again?"

"'Parents are reminded that first years are not allowed their own broomsticks.'"

"So what?" Ron demanded. "They're willing to buy a broom for you!"

"That's right! For ME! And why? So I can play when others like you can't?"

More silence.

"But it's quidditch . . .!" Ron whined.

"Yeah, it's quidditch," Harry said. "The sport my sister HATES with a passion!"

Ron's jaw dropped. "Your sister hates quidditch? Is she barmy?"

"_**RON!**_"

He jolted before turning to see his older brothers glaring at him. "WHAT?"

The twins then slapped him hard on the back of his head. "You're the one that's barmy, Ron!" George snapped. "Would you like it if Harry called Ginny that?"

"Of course not!"

"Then why the hell are you calling Rose that?" Fred snapped before he stared at Harry. "Would you please excuse us, Harry? We need to have a little family meeting here to make our brother understand a few things about life! Coming, George?"

"Right behind you, Fred!"

The twins immediately dragged Ron off towards the Great Hall. Harry watched them go, shaking his head before he headed over to join his friends. Lee watched his friends go deal with their brother, and then he looked back. "Hey, Harry?"

Harry stopped, looking back. "Yeah?"

"Your sister really hates quidditch?"

The younger man sighed. "Lee, if Rose had her way, she'd make the very word a Taboo, then have all the players in the country rounded up and tossed into the Maze Among the Rocks for a year for playing such a crazy sport!" He then shook his head. "I hate to see it when she's here in her first year learning how to fly a broom."

The older boy looked confused. "'The Maze Among the Rocks?'"

"Gonebren Prison," Achelois said.

Lee blanched as he recalled the stories about the dark and horrid prison in the remote moors of Cornwall which had been the main place of incarceration for delinquent and criminal wizards and witches during the years leading up to the Separation Act in the 1690s. "I thought they closed that place down when they opened Azkaban!"

"Lee, the Hollows that live in Gonebren don't realise that."

Lee gazed fearfully at Chikage . . .

* * *

The Charms classroom, fourth period . . .

"So Harry refused to play for his team even though he's a good flyer?"

If Draco's jaw wasn't any lower, it would be on the floor right now.

"That's correct," Chikage said as the Hufflepuff and Slytherin first years relaxed in class as they awaited Filius Flitwick's arrival. "He felt it was grossly unfair for him to be given the chance to play quidditch while others of his year could not because of the prohibition on our peers concerning having their own brooms."

"He was even shocked to learn that Professor McGonagall was willing to take money from the school vault to buy a new broom just for Harry," Achelois added.

Draco was speechless. "Really?" Theodore gasped.

"Really," Jane affirmed with a nod. "They were thinking of getting a Nimbus 2000 or a Cleansweep Seven for the guy!"

"Damn . . .!" Vincent breathed out.

"Then again, it's only fair."

Draco's head snapped over so he could gaze on Chikage. "FAIR? But this is QUIDDITCH we're talking about here! Why, if I was elected to the team . . .!"

"Why aren't you being given the chance to play?" she challenged.

Draco fell silent, and then his mouth clapped shut as he shook his head, his mind threatening to crash as he tried to figure out the incredible puzzle that was one Harry Potter. Trying not to smile at the poor boy's discomfort, Chikage then gazed on the other Slytherin boys. "Would any of you like a chance to play in the game?"

"I would," Gregory said.

"So would I," Vincent added, and then he smirked. "We'd only get a year - two if we got a chance this year - to play it, though!"

"Why only two years, Vince?" Millicent asked.

"Our sisters, Millie," Gregory answered. "Father taught me how to fly on a broom a few years ago. Ariel caught me on it once high over the house and she started crying and screaming at me to get down." He shook his head. "Never did THAT again!"

"Lotti's the same way," Vincent added. "We even took her to a quidditch game during the summer. Arrows versus the Catapults. Really great game!" He then frowned. "Lotti later said she thought it was the most boring thing she ever watched!"

"You, too?" Draco asked.

"Raven's the same way, Drake?" Pansy asked.

A nod. "Yeah. She hates brooms and thinks quidditch is . . . "

"Good morning, class."

Everyone gasped on hearing that voice echo from all around them, and then Chikage smiled. "Good morning to you, Professor Flitwick. Nice invisibility charm."

A delighted chuckle as the diminutive charms master appeared beside his desk. "Thank you, Miss Hirosaki," he said as the students all straightened themselves, the hands of many grasping quills as they prepared to write notes on parchment. He immediately picked up the nominal roll and began to take down attendance. Once that was done, he smiled. "What I demonstrated to you to start off this class is called a Disillusionment Charm. It's meant to make things invisible to the average observer, especially . . . " He perked as a hand went up. "Yes, Mister Fitch-Fletchley?"

Justin lowered his hand. "I'm sorry, Professor, but if it's a charm meant to make things invisible, why's it called a 'disillusionment' charm? From what I learned in English, 'dis-' implies a negative context. As in you're removing the illusion."

His eyes brightened as a delighted smile crossed his face. "An excellent question to ask, young man! Five points to Hufflepuff for noting that very point about that particular charm. Answers, anyone?" Hands went up. "Miss Greengrass?"

Daphne put her hand down. "The charm was meant to make magical beings invisible to muggles. Since it was believed that muggles would - on seeing them for the first time - most likely think of beings like dragons as an illusion, the charm was named 'disillusionment' to make the 'illusion' of a dragon or other such creature go away."

"Perfect answer! Five points to Slytherin!" Filius then smiled as he paced around the room. "Now, there's going to be a bit of a change from I originally planned for this class. Normally, for an introductory Charms two-period class, I teach people how to properly hold their wands in spell-casting, and then introduce three of the very basic charms we use in everyday life: The Hover Charm, the Summoning Charm and the Torch Light Charm. We will do wand-handling and the Hover Charm for this class and save the Summoning and the Torch Light Charms for Thursday's period. But after what I just learned this morning, we're going to spend a little time also analysing a series of charms and spells that I myself just learned of this morning. Those who were seated at the Slytherin table at breakfast today will understand what I'm talking about."

Laughter filled the room. "So, let's get our wands out and let's form a line in front of the desks," Filius then instructed. "First thing about casting a spell of any sort is to learn how to properly hold your wand in your hand . . . "

* * *

An hour later . . .

"Are you SURE this won't tickle you, my dear?"

Tanny Stevens smiled. "As soon as she got her wand last year, Mistress Lisa began practicing her charms at our house, Master Filius. I got used to it."

Filius nodded. "Alright. But tell me if it hurts."

He then whispered a spell as he wove a diagnostic enchantment around the dark-haired elf, which made Tanny shudder lightly as she squeezed her lips together, her eyes closed tightly as she tried to shut out the ticklish feeling running through her. Atop herself and Tommy Drake, three other human-shaped elves had come to class today: A pretty blue-eyed redhead named Cerys Jones, one of two who served Camellia's family; a grey-eyed, brown-haired girl named Diana Follows, who was Megan's family elf; and a young black-haired, brown-eyed man named Joseph Nate, who was one of the elves serving Marian's family. As all of the students, who were seated in a circle around the elves - with the elves' young mistresses standing beside them, holding their hands - watched in wide-eyed awe, Filius finished his incantation, and then he waited for the reading to appear in a ghostly parchment near Tanny's shoulder. "My word . . .!" he breathed out, and then he gaped at Chikage. "Your grandfather did this?"

"He did," she replied with a nod.

"What did you find, Professor?" Hannah asked.

A sigh. "Does anyone here know of the Neuwied Test?" Filius then asked. As hands went up, he indicated one person. "Mister Hopkins?"

"It's a test of total magical potential," Wayne answered.

"Excellent. Five points to Hufflepuff. For those who don't know, the Neuwied Test was first made and unveiled by an Unspeakable in Germany named Johannes Neuwied in 1982. It was first brought to Britain two years after that. It was designed to give parents an idea of what total potential in magic their child would have. It's like - for those of you who are muggleborn - getting your intelligence quotient (or I.Q.) tested." He then looked around the room. "Has anyone undergone this test?"

Every hand went up save Chikage's. "Oh, my! Well, I won't offend any people here today by asking for your results," Filius said, which made everyone laugh. "Let me explain why I mentioned the Test. When he developed it, Johannes had also developed a variation of it for house elves. I just tested Miss Stevens here and she has a magical rating - it's the same scale used for humans, by the way - of 472 points."

Shocked and disbelieving gasps fill the room. "Please!" Filius then said as he waved his hand to calm them down. "Yes, that sounds very high. My own test, which was three years ago, gave me a score of 204 points. But when it comes to house elves, it IS considered quite normal for them to score between 300 and 400 points."

"Then why's it so high for me, Master Filius?"

Filius gazed on Tanny, who had a worried look on her face. "Right now, I can't say. Fortunately, Miss Hirosaki brought her grandfather's charm notes for the _Aelf Evolutio_ with her today to class, so I'll take some time to look at them," Filius answered, and then he stared at Chikage. "Unless you care to enlighten us, my dear."

She hummed. "Personally, I can't answer why Mistress Tabitha scored that high."

Tanny frowned. "Mistress Chikage!" she whined. "MUST you call me 'Mistress?'"

Some of the children giggled. "Are you asking me to behave dishonourably?" Chikage then asked as she stared at the Ropers' house elf.

Tanny blinked, her jaw flapping up and down. "I . . . um, n-no . . .!"

"Then why won't you simply respect the fact that I respect your position as the mistress of Jane's household. As I would Master Thomas with Achelois' household, Mistress Cerys with Camellia's household, Mistress Diana with Megan's household, and Master Joseph with Marian's household." Chikage shook her head as she gave the dark-haired elf a look. "To refuse to do otherwise hurts my karma, which will affect my life . . . and by extension, my magic. Are you asking me to do that?"

Tanny stopped as she closed her mouth, her eyes misting. "No, Mistress! I would never do that to one of Mistress Jane's friends! It's wrong!"

"Tommy, hug her," Achelois ordered.

Tommy immediately embraced his friend, allowing Tanny to lean on his shoulder as she cried. "Why is she just crying?" Draco then demanded. "She should be punishing herself for being so disrespectful to Chikage's beliefs!"

"Draco, believe it or not, she IS punishing herself."

Eyes locked on Chikage. "What do you mean?" Tracey wondered.

A sigh. "When he was here, my grandfather was appalled by three things when it came to house elves," Chikage explained. "First: Their need to serve a human being. That, Grandfather could not change; to even TRY would condemn an elf to die. A house elf's magic is symbiotic in nature; it cannot survive without a corresponding bond to either a human master or - as in the case of the elves here at Hogwarts - a community of humans that lives and works in a group for a long period of time. Second: Their inbred need to punish themselves when they do or believe they have done something very wrong. Third: Their inability to speak normally like we do. The second and third problems was ultimately resolved by his work that went into the _Aelf Evolutio_."

She stood and walked over to Tanny, who was quietly sobbing as Tommy held her close, whispering words of reassurance in her ear. "Right now, she feels remorse over what she just learned about me, even if technically, she's not at fault because she didn't understand my worldviews. But she's not using her magic to hurt herself. When normal elves punish themselves - this is what Grandfather learned in his studies on them - their magic can take a huge dip. If that form of self-abuse went TOO far, the elf would ultimately kill himself. That he didn't want. Even if they are magical slaves with no ability to live free, Grandfather felt it was wrong to allow that to happen. Hence, when he discovered it was possible to allow an elf to assume human form, he was able to allow them to speak - and by extension THINK - as a human! And that, in the end, would allow them to better serve their masters and mistresses!"

Filius nodded. "A very simple yet profoundly elegant idea! I approve!"

"It's still weird!" Draco protested.

Chikage smiled. "In that way, you're lucky, Draco. You obviously live in a fully magical village, do you not?" As Draco nodded, she then indicated the girls whose family elves had come to visit the classroom today. "Achelois, Jane, Megan, Marian and Camellia don't live in a fully magical village like you do. They live among the normals. They have normal friends and went to normal primary schools before they came here. It would hurt their elves in the long term to force them to remain invisible when they invited their friends to come play at their house. Making them human and allowing them to act as butlers and governesses - just as normal house servants behave in normal households - would not attract attention. Understand now?"

Draco blinked, and then he nodded. Chikage then sighed. "Achelois, Jane, may I do a little matchmaking here?" she then asked as she gazed on her friends.

"What do you have in mind?" Achelois asked.

The traveller smiled, and then she cleared her throat. "Master Thomas?"

Tommy perked as Tanny looked at her. "Yes, Mistress?" he asked.

"Given that I caused your friend Mistress Tabitha undue injury, I would ask you a favour to help her feel much better in the long term," Chikage then said.

"But Mistress . . . "

Chikage gave him an earnest look. "Please?"

Tommy stopped, and then he nodded. "Alright."

"Excellent," Chikage said. "Please take her out for a whole day. Pretend you are two normal people going out on a date. Go have a meal at a restaurant, go see a movie and do all the other things normal couples do. Even spend the night together at a hotel if you desire. I'm sure Achelois' and Jane's families will understand."

Tommy and Tanny blinked with surprise. "It's okay, Tanny," Jane said. "Just tell Mom where you're at so that she doesn't panic."

"Same with my mother, Tommy," Achelois added.

Both elves then blinked, and then they nodded before popping out of the room. "My word!" Filius breathed out. "That is truly something astounding."

"Grandfather felt it was a just and proper thing to do for them," Chikage said.

The charms professor nodded, and then he gestured with his wand. "_Tempus_," he called out. A ghostly clock then appeared. "Ah, it's eleven-fifty right now. Let's spend the last twenty minutes or so practicing with our wands."

"Will we be needed anymore, Master Filius?" Cerys asked.

"No, my dears. Thank you for coming."

"Please excuse us!" Cerys, Diana and Joseph chanted, smiling.

_Pop!_ And with that, they vanished. The students all then rose, drawing out their wands as they moved to form a line before the teacher's desk . . .

* * *

The Great Hall, lunchtime . . .

"He REFUSED?" Rolanda demanded.

Minerva sighed. "He did. Stated flat out that he would consider it totally dishonourable to be allowed to play quidditch as a first year - with a broom bought by the school of all things! - when others of his year aren't allowed to play!" She then smiled before sipping her tea. "Mister Wood was nearly in tears when Mister Potter said that, but I've never felt such pride in one of my lions than I did with him!"

The others at the head table all nodded, even Severus. "Now, Severus, does THAT convince you?" Septiums Vector then prodded. "If he was put in that position, James would have snapped up the chance in a second! Harry is clearly NOT his father!"

The potions master slowly, reluctantly, nodded. "Yes, Septima, you're right. He certainly takes much more after Lily than James. But that would be understandable given what happened to Lily that night ten years ago. No doubt, Glaston Tore's house elves did their best to ensure that as she was maturing, Lily's daughter would fully understand what her mother was like. And she clearly influenced her brother."

"Indeed she did," Albus stated.

"Wh-wh-what is R-r-Rose like, Albus?" Quirinus then asked.

"Oh, she's quite an intelligent young woman," the headmaster answered. "Very bright and articulate. Miss Evans - she's one of Glaston's elves; he actually named her 'Lilian' in Lily's honour as they do bear a very remarkable resemblance to each other - stated that she matured quite swiftly even for a witch in a fully-magical setting. You weren't here when we first learned of her, Quirinus, but when Poppy tested a blood sample of Rose's that Nancy Snagge gave me, she did the Neuwied Test on her. She scored 205 points, believe it or not." As the jaws of those who had not known of that dropped in shock, Albus nodded. "One of Ryūji's friends from his universe - she actually attended the Hogwarts there in the 1950s, a Ravenclaw - came to where Rose and Harry lived in 1986 when I tried to communicate to Ryūji about the whole matter with Glaston's use of the _Desidero Infantis_ and how it affected her as well as several others we learned of who were born around the time of Rose's birth. She immediately recommended wand-training for them all so they could better control their magic; Rose's first known episode of accidental magic was quite profound."

Filius nearly fell out of his chair in shock. "You started that girl on wand training at age FOUR?" he demanded. "Her magic stabilised THAT early?"

"Indeed it did, Filius. Remus Lupin lives with them as Harry's surrogate godfather and magical guardian. He's been teaching Rose - and Harry as well; his own magic, no doubt because of his proximity to Rose, came to stabilise itself quite early as well when he went to be with her - duelling ever since." That was a lie, Albus knew, but he felt it was right to tell the tale *this* way. "She's very good at it."

"At age FOUR?" the charms master demanded.

"Filius, if i-i-it was n-necessary, it w-w-was necessary," Quirinus stated. "Some p-p-people develop qu-quite early in l-l-life. At l-l-least she - and h-h-her brother, t-t-too - got a g-g-good teacher to t-t-teach them things."

Filius blinked as he took in the defence teacher's words, and then he shook his head. "My word! I know how passionate Remus can be when he fights with his wand! If Rose inherited that from him, she'll be a terror when she gets here in two years!"

"It will b-b-be quite interesting t-t-to see that," Quirinus noted.

The others all nodded . . .

* * *

Defence Against The Dark Arts, after lunch . . .

"Harry!"

Harry perked, and then he smiled politely as Draco came up to him, accompanied by Vincent and Gregory. "Hello, guys. Did you enjoy lunch?"

"It was really good," Draco said as he took a seat beside the other boy, his companions also relaxing in nearby chairs. "Listen, I heard what you did after Professor McGonagall dragged you off the back field this morning. That was a really incredible thing to do, Harry. I figured that since your dad was a pretty good quidditch player when he was our age, you would've loved to be one, too."

"Well, personally, I don't mind flying. But my sister hates to see me on a broom," Harry then confessed, acting as if the part of Draco actually PROVOKING that scene earlier in the day didn't matter. And while it did, Harry wasn't in the mood to provoke a scene now. "And don't get her started with quidditch. If she knew where they were buried, she'd find all the people who invented the sport, find some way to turn them into inferi, then load them on a rocket and blast them into the Sun!" He then shook his head. "We were there two years ago at the Holocaust at Holyhead!"

All three Slytherin boys winced on hearing that. In 1989, when they were hosting their famous rivals from Germany, the Heidelberg Harriers, for an international friendly, the Holyhead Harpies found themselves the victims of a vicious attack played on them via their brooms before the game. It was a miracle that none of the players died when their brooms had caused them to fly at top speed into the pitch. Naturally, the visitors from the Federal Republic had automatically conceded the match. The man responsible - an old fighter of Gellert Grindelwald's who wanted to take vengeance on the Harpies for their predecessors' volunteering to help the forces under Albus Dumbledore in defeating his master during the 1940s as the normals fought the Second World War - got life in Nurmengard Prison in a cell beside Gellert's after the Aurors and the German _Magische Bundespolizei_ teamed up to hunt him down. "Yeah, that'd definitely do it," Draco said with a nod, and then he perked. "You were there? How did . . .?"

"The advantage of having six house elves," Harry replied. "They used their own magic to create something similar to a Notice-Me-Not charm on both Rose and I so people didn't pay close attention to us." A shake of the head. "That was a sad thing."

"Yeah, it was! I can see why your sister hates it! My sister Raven and my cousin Cassiopeia hate the game, too," Draco noted. He was quick to see no reaction in Harry on his mentioning his sister's and cousin's names, a part of him immediately nodding in approval at the Gryffindor's self-control. "They were at the Holocaust with my parents and me. After all the Harpies got carried off the field, they vowed right there that, save for their first broom lesson, they'd NEVER get on a broom for the rest of their lives! Nothing Father can say or do will make them change their minds!"

"Can you blame them?" Harry asked.

Draco shook his head. "Not really . . . oh!"

Harry perked as he heard the door open, allowing Quirinus Quirrell to walk into the room. Everyone stood up in respect, and then he waved them to take their seats. "Good aftern-n-noon, everyone," he began. "My n-n-name is Professor Qu-qu-Quirrell. I'll be y-y-your teacher i-i-in Defence Against th-th-the Dark Arts . . . "

* * *

The Long Bridge, start of third afternoon period . . .

"So what happened in class?"

"Other than the garlic smell that made me think I was caught in one of _Ŏmma_'s kimch'i jars that she buries underground after making a new batch?" Aesup asked as everyone relaxed at their normal meeting place near the academic wing overlooking Loch Eigheach. "Not really much. He told us a whole ton of stuff about what he did and why the place stinks so badly. I really found it pretty hard to accept some of that stuff. Actually getting a turban helping fight off a zombie down in Africa? Being scared of a vampire coming HERE of all places to track him down for a fight he won in ROMANIA?" She shook her head. "Something really is foul about that class . . . and I just don't mean the garlic smell that's in that place now! I guess _Oppa_ was right about there being a curse on the position! Didn't your dad teach it once, Achelois?"

"Yeah, back in 1987 and 1988. He nearly lost his leg AGAIN when it was almost over," Achelois noted. "When do you guys get him?" she then asked the Hufflepuffs.

"Wednesday for a single period right before lunch, and then Thursday during the last two periods in the afternoon," Chikage answered. "But right now, we can all relax for a period before we badgers and our brother and sister lions get the chance to have a couple periods with the late-yet-still surprisingly teaching Professor Binns in History of Magic. I wonder if he's still concentrating on goblin wars."

"He is," Camellia warned as she rolled her eyes before she and Achelois exchanged a knowing look. "Bring a pillow to the class. You'll need one."

"What are you guys doing?" Hermione asked.

"We got the rest of the day off," Achelois stated, a smile crossing her face. "We were thinking of heading you-know-where and taking a further look around and seeing if Chikage's granddad left behind anything that might be valuable."

Chikage then hummed. "Could you guys do a quick favour?"

"What is it?"

"I noticed Grandfather turned the southeast classroom into a dōjō. Could you see if all the stuff there is still usable or if it needs to be replaced?"

Both Slytherins nodded. "A dōjō?" Hermione asked. "Why a dōjō?"

"Hermione, you remember what I did to Peeves yesterday, don't you?"

The normal-born girl nodded. "There's more to defence in the magical world than just using magic," Chikage warned. "Magic and all the things that come with it like a wand are merely simple extensions of your body and how you put it to use. If Professor Quirrell is not going to be anything decent when it comes to teaching us how to defend ourselves . . . especially with a disembodied Tom Riddle running around . . . "

Hermione blanched as the others nodded. "Good point," Harry noted.

"What will we learn?" Marian asked.

Chikage smirked. "We learn the Art Grandfather learned from _Ō-Sensei_ after World War Two," she said as she turned to head towards the Great Hall. "Aikidō."

Aesup grinned while the others stared in confusion at her . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	8. The Tsidoki

Outside the History of Magic classroom, start of fourth period . . .

"Wait!"

All the Hufflepuffs stopped on hearing Chikage's sharp voice, and then they stared at her, quickly seeing the traveller's narrow eyes and scowl. "What is it, Chikage?" Susan asked, a touch of worry in her voice.

Chikage didn't answer as she looked around the hallway close to the entrance to the classroom normally used for History of Magic. Located in the far northeast side of the academic wing close to the Owlry and the Divination classroom, it was one of the more seldom-visited parts of the castle. "There's something wrong here," she then said. "Stay where you are. Don't step into the classroom until I say it's alright."

"What is it?" Sally-Anne asked, a fearful look on her face.

"There's a tortured spirit here."

Everyone suddenly gulped on hearing that dire proclamation. With that, the traveller slowly approached the doorway, and then she stopped as her _ki_ senses picked up something that seemed to lash out towards her and snare her arms and legs like thousands of sharp talons trying to rake her skin. Snarling, she cupped her right hand as if she was grasping a rod or her wand. "Oh, no, you don't . . .!" she hissed.

"_**KONTŌ!**_"

The other Hufflepuffs cried out in disbelief as energy misted over her right arm and flowed into her hand, immediately forming the deadly shape of a burning katana of purest gold. "Holy . . .!" Wayne gasped. "She can actually do a LIGHTSABRE?"

"Chikage! What's going on?"

Chikage pointed at Harry, who was running up with several of the Gryffindors, all with wands drawn and worried looks on their faces. "_**STAY RIGHT THERE, HARRY!**_" she barked. "_**NO ONE ENTERS THIS CLASSROOM UNTIL I SAY IT'S SAFE!**_"

Harry skidded to a halt, and then he was bowled over by Neville and Ron. As the others came to a stop, the door to the neighbouring classroom opened, revealing a witch in her late thirties, with large coke-bottle glasses and robes made of various shades of the forest. "Oh, dear . . .!" she breathed out on seeing the blazing energy blade in Chikage's hand as the young girl charged into the classroom before drawing her wand and moving to place herself protectively before the assembled first years.

"What's happening, Professor Trelawney? Is she alright?" Lavender asked . . .

. . . and then everyone jolted on hearing a shrieking noise akin to metal being torn, that echoed by a haunting, pained scream and a bellow of outrage. "_**YOU WILL NOT DO TH- . . .!**_" that second voice, which sounded like some angry demon, howled out before the words melted into a ghastly wail filled with mortal agony.

The castle seemed to quake slightly as another screeching sound escaped the classroom as that scream filled the hallways, and then silence fell like the immediate hush that followed the dropping of a guillotine blade. Everyone stared at the open doorway for a moment. "Chikage . . .?" Megan gasped as her eyes suddenly teared.

"It's alright, my dear."

The professor blinked. "Cuthbert?" Sybill Trelawney asked.

Everyone then gasped on seeing a ghostly form walk slowly out of the classroom. He seemed to pause as he focused on the woman protecting what would have been his next class, and then a light smile crossed his face. "How odd . . . " he said. "I don't even know your name, Madame . . . " He then turned to the students. "Or them as well . . . " he blinked, and then he turned as footfalls echoed from down the hallway.

"Sybill! Cuthbert! What happened?"

"It's alright, Albus!" Sybill said as Albus came up at a run, moving well for a wizard well past his first century of existence. "What was needed to be done has been done," she declared as she waved to the History classroom. "Miss Hirosaki has freed Cuthbert from the curse put on him long before he slipped his mortal coil."

Albus stopped, and then he turned to look before his jaw dropped. "Merlin!"

People looked, and then they gasped on seeing Chikage step out, her body shaking with considerable exhaustion and parts of her clothes burned away as the diamond meson linkpoints on her arms and legs shone brightly through her shredded jacket sleeves and her skirt. Her right hand still held that burning energy sword in it while her left tightly grasped the hair of someone that made all of those staring at this scene think of Peeves save for the difference of clothing and the difference of the head and face. This one wore robes of solid black with alien writing all over him that Harry instantly recognised as Gobbledegook . . . and writings that nearly made him turn white as his mind translated those words into something that would have any self-respecting goblin spitting fire, brandishing his weapons and beating the drums of war into launching another rebellion. "A tsidoki . . .!" he hissed out, his face twisting in disgust.

"«_Who speaks that foul word?_»"

Harry turned as Filius Flitwick came up, a look of murder on the charms master's face. "«_I speak it for my friend has just found one_,»" he reported in Gobbledegook as he turned and pointed at what was now behind held in place by Chikage.

Filius came around, and then he stopped, his jaw suddenly dropping to the floor in disbelief and shock before he turned to stare wide-eyed at Harry. "«_Your friend is a demon-hunter, Lord Potter?_»" he said in his grandmother's tongue.

"«_My honoured guest has not revealed that she possesses such skills to me, Professor,_»" Harry responded as he gestured towards Chikage's captive. "«_While I know of it and what it does, I don't know what one does when one catches one._»"

"«_You must deal with it immediately, young wizard, if you don't wish to see another goblin rebellion be launched,_»" a new voice then warned.

Harry and Filius turned to gaze on Cuthbert Binns, and then they exchanged a look before nodding in understanding. "Miss Hirosaki, you have captured a tsidoki," the charms master then announced. "This thing, if it doesn't exist in your own dimension, is seen as one of the most despised and hated dark spirits goblins know of." On his saying that, many of the people there peered at the creature, quickly seeing the physical attributes of a goblin despite his being quite small to actually be one of those beings. "Given what I myself know of what has happened in Professor Binns' class before today, I suspect this one wanted to do what it could to maintain the atmosphere of hatred, mistrust and malice between goblins and humans."

"Then may I ask, Professor, what the Noble Tribe's laws are concerning the disposing of this thing?" Chikage asked, her eyebrow arched.

"If I may interrupt, Lady Chikage?"

She perked. "Lord Ælfweard."

The Bloody Baron appeared close to her, though he kept his distance from that blazing energy blade in her right hand. "Master Peeves wishes to make his judgement known, my lady," he said with a respectful bow of his head. "This thing, he tells me, is the Noble Tribe's equivalent of a poltergeist. I can sense your soul-blade is deadly when applied to any living spirit. He requests a say in judgement."

"So be it. Master Peeves?"

The poltergeist then appeared beside his friend, and then he drifted down to stare intently at the wounded tsidoki. Shaking his head, he sneered. "Not funny," he said with a voice filled with disgust, and then he drifted back. Raising his right hand, he held out his fist, and then turned his outstretched thumb down.

She nodded. "So be it. Marquess Potter?"

Harry perked. "Lady Hirosaki?"

"You are considered a True Friend to the Noble Tribe, you have adopted several of their leaders as spirit-kin and you speak their tongue. Your judgement, sir?"

He blinked, and then he turned his thumb down, which made many of his peers stare wide-eyed at him. "So be it," Chikage declared. "Charms Master Flitwick, you possess the blood of the Noble Tribe within your veins. Your judgement, sir?"

Filius turned his thumb down. "So be it. History Master Binns, you were this creature's victim and you speak the Noble Tribe's tongue. Your judgement, sir?"

Cuthbert sighed. "I cannot make judgement, young lady. It was my stupidity which led to this thing coming here when I was still alive. I abstain."

"So be it. Baron Master Alchemist Dumbledore, this is your school and this creature brought harm to all who walked into this classroom. Your judgement, sir?"

Albus sighed. "I have heard of these creatures. Their influence on events throughout the long history human and goblin have interacted has seen to the deaths of many, human and goblin alike, in the various rebellions. Much that I personally loathe saying something like this, this creature is beyond redemption." Thumb down.

"So be it. Four for, one abstention, no against. So . . . "

Chikage raised her blade, and then swiftly brought it down against the creature's neck, severing the head with one clean blow. Everyone gasped as the body collapsed to the floor, and then disintegrated into vanishing mist, the head following. The creature did not scream as his corporeal body faded into nothingness. Those who watched this happen all winced on seeing that, some looking away. Once that was done, Chikage seemed to stagger before collapsing to her knees, the glowing points of light on her arms and legs disappearing as the energy blade vanished. Peeves was right at her side. "Now! Now! Now!" he said as her eyes rolled into her head and she passed out. "A lot of energy you used today dealing with that not-funny one. I'll get you to Poppy and she'll make you all nice and better so you can make my bells!"

With that, the poltergeist lifted the unconscious girl in his arms and he vanished with her to the Hospital Wing. Watching them go, Albus then sighed. "Filius, please take Harry to my office so he can floo-call Ragnok. We'll need a curse breaking team here to make sure all is well before we can use this classroom again."

"_Kyojang-sŏnsaengnim?_"

"Yes, Aesup?"

"I have a relative that was trained in the traditional ways. You'll need her to help in the cleansing of the classroom and helping prepare _Binns-sŏnsaengnim_ for his journey unto Heaven," Aesup then said. "I can have her come here right away."

"A wonderful suggestion, my dear. Ten points to Gryffindor. Filius?"

"This way, you two," the charms professor bade them.

They headed off. "Forty-eight years, Albus . . . " Cuthbert then said as he shook his head, which made Albus gaze on him. "Forty-eight years . . . and I never once even realised I was _dead_!" He shook his head again. "Isn't that ironic . . .?"

"There are things about magic that even **I** do not understand, old friend," Albus said as he gazed in understanding at the history teacher. "Such as what Miss Hirosaki just used to dispose of that tsidoki. I've never seen its like before . . . "

"It is a weapon born of her very soul, Lord Albus," the Bloody Baron then said. "Her very spirit fuelled the fire that forged that blade. It was not magic from what I sensed, but it is a vicious device." He then moved to depart. "I shudder to think of what other wonders she bears with her from her land far away in time and space."

"We will no doubt learn of them, Lord Ælfweard," Albus advised . . .

* * *

The Great Hall, suppertime . . .

"So is she alright?" Sǔ asked.

Chikage's friends were now at the end of the Ravenclaw table, having been joined by many of their fellow first years, even a good cadre from Slytherin. It was quite a sombre mood at dinner this evening; the Hogwarts rumour mill had been more than sufficient to spread the word over what happened two hours before. "When I went to the hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey said she was just suffering from physical exhaustion," Harry said before sipping his juice. "She just needs a good night's sleep."

"Not to mention a good meal."

People turned, and then whooped in delight as Chikage came up to join them, her uniform mended and a light smile on her face. "What th' devil happened, Chikage?" Mòrag asked as she took her seat and a meal appeared before her.

The traveller smiled as she gazed at the redhead; Mòrag's brogue was almost as pronounced as Nicole McTavish's. "It appears that sometime before he died, Professor Binns stumbled onto a very ancient goblin text which was deliberately designed to make him summon forth one of their devil-spirits, known in their language as a 'tsidoki.'" She ignored Harry's disgusted look as she said that. "Said creature - since they don't approve of the Noble Tribe interacting with humans - took advantage of the professor's ignorance to turn him into what Grandfather and so many after him thought him to be."

"Only concerned about goblin wars," Hermione said. "But why?"

"George Santayana said it best, Hermione: 'Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it,'" the traveller noted before sipping her tea and taking a deep breath. "What that creature was, I believe, trying to do was to make history so dull and boring, those who were learning under Professor Binns would never understand what he was striving to teach when he lectured on various goblin wars." A sigh. "I'm not sure as to what will happen now, but hopefully, whomever replaces him will actually TEACH history and not just regurgitate facts and dates. That is NOT history!"

"Actually, Miss Hirosaki, we have already made some arrangements."

Everyone turned. "And what arrangements are those, Professor?" Chikage asked as Albus came up to stand beside her, accompanied by a smiling Veronica Roper.

"Mom! What are you doing here?" Jane demanded.

Albus smiled. "That, Miss Roper, you will learn in a very short while," he said. "Shall we head on up to the head table, Veronica?" he then asked Veronica.

"Please lead on, Headmaster," Veronica said as she looped her arm around his and they headed up to join the other staff at the front of the Hall.

Silence fell as they watched them go, and then Harry grinned. "Yes!"

"What?" Hermione demanded.

"Mom has her Mastery in Magical History," Jane said, her own mouth split in a wide grin; she had just put it all together herself. "Unlike most people who went through Professor Binns' class, she decided she wasn't going to just ignore our past but learn all about it." She then smirked. "History won't be boring now!"

"You better be careful, Chikage," Daphne then warned.

"Why should I be careful, Daphne?"

"You just stole everyone's free sleeping periods by getting rid of Binns."

The traveller smirked. "Well, if they seek to curse me, they best be warned first: What I used on that tsidoki can also be used on people, too."

"What was it, anyway?" Seamus asked. "Wayne called it a 'lightsabre.'"

"Actually, it's called a 'soulsword,'" Chikage provided. "It's a martial art form from a very eclectic school of ninjutsu practiced by one of the families that sponsored my healing from Second Kantō. It focuses one's very soul into a weapon made of pure _ki_. If I used it on a person, a simple strike with the edge of the blade would kill them and leave no mark. It's deadlier than a Killing Curse and it can't be detected by magical means. A strike of the flat of the blade would put someone in a permanent coma." As people around her gaped, she sighed. "Before the quake, I was able to do a good soulsword. But ever since I came here, I haven't had an opportunity to improve my _ki_ stores so I could use it without exhausting myself." _Not to mention that I forgot that I'm no longer _sixteen_ but _eleven_!_ she added.

"So that's why you passed out?" Wayne asked.

A nod. "Unfortunately so. Oh, Achelois, what of the dōjō?"

"It needs a lot of things replaced," Achelois warned.

"We'll look at it Friday afternoon since that's a free time for all of us."

"What's a 'dōjō?'" Draco asked.

"A martial arts training all," Chikage replied. "Similar to a duelling hall."

He took that in and then he nodded as he turned back to his meal. Chikage turned back to her tea though she was quick to sense people's eyes on her.

Hmm. Pansy, Daphne and Tracey.

What was that about . . .?

* * *

"I trust the meal was satisfactory?"

Cheers filled the Great Hall in answer to Albus' question. The headmaster then smiled as he nodded. "I'm glad for that. As you all know, we had a severe incident at the History of Magic classroom this afternoon when Miss Hirosaki made the discovery of a most vile and evil creature known to goblins as a 'tsidoki,'" he then announced. "This entity was the one responsible for entrapping Professor Binns before his dying in 1943 into turning History of Magic into a convenient sleep period for many." As laughter filled the hall, the headmaster held up his hand. "Yes, my friends, I can understand your desire to get as much sleep as possible, especially those of you in the senior years studying for your OWLs and NEWTs. Still, Professor Binns' spirit was cruelly trapped by this spirit into turning that class into something that has badly come to affect generations of wizards and witches since even before his death."

As people sobered up, Albus took a deep breath. "Fortunately, Miss Hirosaki was well-equipped to dispose of the creature and free Professor Binns' spirit from its influence," Albus added, which elicited applause from many in the room. "I am pleased to report that the professor's spirit has finally slipped away from this life into his next great adventure. We should be happy for him and wish him well in the next life. Please rise and let us have a moment's silence for Cuthbert Kevin Binns."

Everyone stood up and bowed their heads as silence fell over the Great Hall. Even those ghosts who were present were also quiet as they prayed for the departed. Once that was done, Albus then looked up. "Please be seated," he then bade. As people took their places, the headmaster then smiled. "Now let us deal with the here and now," he said. "With Professor Binns' departure, we obviously need a new Professor of Magical History. Fortunately, we found one in the mother of two of our students in Hufflepuff who - amazing as THIS will sound! - actually gained her Mastery in Magical History in the wake of her graduation from Hogwarts in 1978 as a part of Slytherin. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you all Professor Veronica Roper."

Veronica stood up, bowing to everyone else as the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins all got to their feet and whooped and cheered while everyone else politely applauded. Once that was done and she had taken her seat, Albus continued, "While we would like to restore things as quickly as possible, such will be delayed due to the nature of what was discovered earlier today. A curse breaking team from Gringotts is here looking at what that tsidoki did in that classroom. Please do not interfere with them as they do their work; they should be done within the day and we can have classes resume there by Thursday at the earliest. In the meantime, those who were scheduled for classes in History of Magic tomorrow may have free periods of study in the library."

More mute applause. "Now, there are two things else we need to look at this evening that deserves some points to be awarded," Albus said, which made everyone perk as they gazed intently at him. "First, in acknowledgement of this afternoon's events: Miss Hirosaki, please take fifty points to Hufflepuff for your actions concerning the tsidoki and another fifty points to Hufflepuff for your profound concern towards the fate of Professor Binns regardless of personal cost to yourself."

The Hufflepuffs all whooped as Chikage stood and bowed. "Professor, on behalf of Hufflepuff, I accept your judgement and the points awarded," she declared.

Cheers filled the Great Hall as she took her seat. "Thank you, Miss Hirosaki. Now, a most remarkable demonstration of personal fortitude," Albus added before a smile crossed his face. "This morning, at Madame Hooch's introductory class to broom flying to the first years in Gryffindor and Slytherin, Mister Potter demonstrated as close of an approximation of a Wronski Feint as possible while not participating in an actual game of quidditch when he retrieved a Remembrall for his housemate, Mister Longbottom. On seeing that, Professor McGonagall moved to invite him to join the Gryffindor house team, which would have made him the youngest seeker to play school quidditch in over a century. However, when he learned that, Mister Potter REFUSED to play!"

Gasps filled the hall as eyes locked on Harry. "Please!" Albus called out as people started to mutter and point at him. "Please!" he called out again to make people quiet down. "Mister Potter's reasoning was quite simple. He felt it was grossly unfair to be allowed a chance to play quidditch while others of his year could not. And after consulting the _Regula Hogwarts_ about this, I came to learn that while it IS cautioned for first years to be careful in using brooms due to their being in their initial year of proper magical study, there is NO prohibition towards students having their own brooms if they demonstrate proper control of them. To that end, when the houses begin proper tryouts for quidditch in the next few weeks, first years will be permitted to try out for their team if they can obtain brooms from their parents and they CLEARLY demonstrate before Madame Hooch that they can handle such brooms!"

A wild cheer then broke out in the Great Hall as many people applauded that decision. "To that end, I award Mister Potter fifty points to Gryffindor for taking such a strong stand on behalf of all his peers, regardless of house!" Albus said.

Harry stood up and bowed. "Professor Dumbledore, on behalf of Gryffindor, I accept your judgement and the points awarded," he declared.

More cheers filled the room . . .

* * *

Balmoral Castle . . .

"Your Majesty, I must apologise profusely for not coming to present myself to you after I was elected as Your Minister for Magic."

The Queen smiled as she took Cornelius' hand in her own. "Please do not apologise, Minister Fudge," she said, nodding her permission for the _Daily Prophet_ cameraman to take the picture. "We understand that knowledge of the normal side of Our Realm is quite lacking amongst Our Magical Subjects. We will not take offense." She then gave him a knowing look. "Though I personally hope that you will take the time to re-acquaint yourself with the laws of the land so that this won't happen again."

"I am making it a priority for the next week, ma'am," he assured her.

"Wonderful."

The others of Cornelius' party were quickly introduced. While the Queen was quick to notice the sense of uncertainty felt by people such as Delores Umbridge and the Chief Auror, Rufus Scrimgeour, she did nod in approval when people such as Amelia Bones, Aloysius Croaker and Arthur Weasley properly greeted her with a bow or curtsey. Even Betty Braithwaite, who was here as the _Prophet_'s official reporter on this meeting - again, thanks to Amelia's influence - curtseyed to the Sovereign when she greeted her. Once that was done, the Queen then invited everyone to be seated.

Before she could say anything more, the butler then appeared at the doorway to her reception room. "Your Majesty, announcing the presence of Your Majesty's Magistrate Magical (Presumptive) for the Ceremonial County of Somerset, the Dame Rose Jamie Potter; escorted by her guardian, Chief Constable of the Loyal Magical Village of Beckery-Under-The-Hill, the Lady Auror Nancy Heidi Snagge, retired."

Everyone turned as Betty motioned her cameraman over to take a picture of the Girl-Who-Lived and her magical guardian. As the Queen rose to greet the just-arrived girl, Rose had an impish smile. "My apologies for being late, but one of the mares in Uncle Cyllarus' herd just gave birth to a foal an hour ago," she said as she took the Queen's hand in her own and she curtseyed, Nancy following her. "That's why Uncle Hamilton isn't here today; he's out there making sure everything's alright."

"Oh, yes, you told me about that," the Queen said. She was quick to note out of the corner of her eye that all of her visitors were surprised to hear that the Girl-Who-Lived actually resided close to a herd of centaurs . . . AND viewed the leader of said herd as an unofficial "uncle!" "Was it a stallion or a mare?"

"A stallion; Uncle Ixion and Aunt Nephele named him Peneus."

"Wonderful! Please pass on my best wishes to them."

Rose nodded as Nancy shifted a chair around so she could take her seat. The Queen then turned to gaze on her other guests. "Is there a problem?" she asked.

Rose looked over, and then she snickered on seeing the gobsmacked looks on the faces of the visitors from the Ministry. It was Arthur who managed to recover first. "Forgive me, Rose, but . . . you actually live close to a herd of centaurs?"

Rose blinked. "Of course I do. Doesn't everyone?"

"Well, it's just that we never knew of this herd," Amelia cautioned.

Another blink. "You didn't know?" Rose asked, as she sat back in her chair. "How many herds do you think there are in the United Kingdom?"

"Only six," Amelia replied. "Including the one living in the Forbidden Forest near Hogwarts, where your brother is currently going to school."

Rose blinked, and then she exchanged a surprised look with the Queen. "I'm afraid your information is way out of date, Amelia," Nancy then stated. "There are _forty-two_ herds throughout the United Kingdom, including those you know of."

Silence.

"Oh, my heavens!" Delores gasped. "How in Merlin's name did they escape our notice?" She stared at the Queen. "Your Majesty, we will of course move to ensure they do not cause harm to any of the citizens of this land . . .!"

"There is no need to panic, Madame Umbridge."

Everyone stared at the Sovereign. "May I humbly ask why not?" Rufus asked.

"Because most of the head stallions and head mares of those herds do not care for how certain people in Our Ministry view them as a Noble Tribe," the Queen replied. "It was decreed during the Reign of Our Great-great-great-great-grandfather, King George III, that those who did not wish to have ANY relations with Our Ministry - in the wake of that decision in 1811 to declare such sentients 'beasts' - would be considered under the direct protection of the Crown through Our Magistrates Magical and recognised as an independent Noble Tribe residing within the boundaries of Our Realm."

"That was their decision, Your Majesty," Cornelius stated. "We did offer to recognise them as 'beings,' but that didn't satisfy them."

"Have you ever wondered why not?"

The visitors all perked. "Forgive me, ma'am, but you disapprove of the way we view the other magical beings currently living in Your Realm?" Arthur asked.

The Queen sighed. "I do, Mister Weasley. I have actually had the pleasure of meeting several centaurs, mostly from the herd that lives quite close to Balmoral, in fact." As jaws dropped in shock - the existence of that herd was totally unknown to them - she smiled. "They're all quite decent and pleasant sentients. Like yourselves, they strive to do their best to protect their culture and society from what they see as the growing encroachment of normal society on their traditional preserves, but they understand that land space on these islands can be at a premium in some ways, so they are willing to compromise to a certain degree."

"Um, forgive me for asking, Your Majesty, but what do you personally define as a 'noble tribe?'" Betty then asked as she held her writing pad close to her.

"It was defined by the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1815," the Queen replied. "Dame Rose, would you please quote that Proclamation's Preface to Miss Braithwaite?"

"Of course," Rose said before looking over. "_Whereas it is noted that there live within the bounds of Our Realm Eternal many Beings Magical who, while not seen as human by Our Ministry of Magic and Our Subjects Magical, do possess sentience, have created their own societies, and call upon their own noble histories and ancestries from Time Immortal as Our Subjects both Magical and Mundane can also reflect on. In so declaring this, We, George the Third, by the Grace Of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith and Protector of All Our Subjects Magical, do issue this Proclamation Most Royal and Magical: From this day forth, all such beings who look upon Our Crown for Protection from all who desire them either harm or extinction, shall be viewed henceforth as Noble Tribes of Our Realm, to be allowed to live in peace under their laws as long as they do not interfere in the lives of Our Subjects both Magical and Mundane._" She then smiled, though the sharper-eyed ones in the room were quick to see that she didn't really care too much for how the Ministry's representatives would react. "His Majesty's Proclamation listed all the Noble Tribes. The centaurs are there, as are the goblins. You ever wonder why there hasn't been a goblin rebellion since the Magical Proclamation of the Noble Tribes was issued?"

More silence.

"I see," Cornelius breathed out.

"This is part of a problem I see when it comes to the Ministry."

Eyes locked on the Queen. "What problem is that, ma'am?" Arthur asked.

"The fact that you - and your co-workers at the Ministry - are deliberately blinding yourselves to so many things, even in your accepted area of responsibility as mandated in the Separation Act." The Sovereign took a deep breath. "Please understand that I always have, do now and always will accept the need for the Separation Act and the need to keep all the magical beings in this land separated from the normals. But when that Act was granted Royal Assent in the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1692, a trust was implied in the Wizards' Council - later the Ministry - by the Crown, which hoped that you would govern yourselves justly and properly, for the benefit of ALL who were born or later seek protection under that Act." She gazed on Aloysius, a smile crossing her face. "Chief Unspeakable Croaker, I believe your department can easily muster a census of all those who have sworn direct Loyal Oaths unto Our Crown."

"As a matter of fact, Your Majesty, we have compiled such a census."

"And the total number, please?"

"As of start of the school year at Hogwarts: 262,794."

Still more silence.

"Merlin! That can't be true!" Rufus exclaimed.

"It IS true, Rufus," Aloysius stated. "Compare that with the last census of all those who are, to one extent or another, affiliated to the Ministry: Only 81,484."

"How many would fit both categories, Mister Croaker?" the Queen asked.

"Thirteen thousand, six hundred and fifty-seven, Your Majesty; it took us a week to do that comparison." The Chief Unspeakable then sighed. "The total human magical population of Your Realm (including squibs), ma'am, given those numbers, is 330,621."

And even more silence.

"Three hundred and thirty thousand . . .?" Arthur breathed out.

"Dear Merlin! How did we miss them all . . .?" Delores demanded.

"Oh, my Heavens . . .!" Cornelius gasped. "How on Earth did this happen?"

"That, Minister, I charge you to find out."

Eyes locked on the Queen. "Ma'am?" Cornelius asked.

A sigh. "As you'll notice in the Separation Act, there was a provision which allowed wizards and witches who proved themselves worthy of the post to become the Crown's Magistrates Magical," the Queen stated. "Due to what Sir Glaston Tore did ten years ago at Godric's Hollow, Dame Rose here is now seen as one such person." As eyes locked on the young girl and jaws dropped in shock and disbelief, their host continued, "The positions - which are assigned by county - were always meant to serve as a way by which the Crown could directly assist the Ministry in keeping things peaceful in the land. But ONLY in very exceptional circumstances! After all, we are human beings. Mistakes happen and people can get lost in the milieu, especially given how desperate wizards and witches were to break away from normals and live their lives in peace back then . . . to say anything of how equally desperate certain normal lords were to keep wizards and witches under control of Parliament. I know that and I understand that well." She took a breath as she closed her eyes. "But right from the very beginning, the Magistrates Magical have had no choice but to assume duties they shouldn't have had to concern themselves with in the first place. It has now come to the point, for example, where people like Dame Rose feel they have no choice but to seek out normal-borns before they even go to Hogwarts and administer the Loyal Oath so they would have some protection if they decide to leave wizarding society and rejoin normal society after they graduate." A shake of the head. "Is that what you want, Cornelius?"

He took that in, and then shook his head. "Of course not, ma'am." A sigh. "I've served Your Ministry for many years now. I believe in the Ministry. I've always seen it as the basic guarantor of all freedoms for wizards and witches in this land. To hear that so many have just _walked away_ from it all . . . " He shook his head. "For this, I owe Miss Hirosaki a profound debt of gratitude." A chuckle. "To believe that we needed a visitor from outside our own DIMENSION to show us what we were so ignorant of!"

"I never pressed Millicent with this because she was concerned too much with the rebuilding of your society after the arch-traitor Voldemort came so close to destroying it," the Queen said, ignoring the shudders from her guests as she said that name. "But the physical rebuilding is done. It's time to start healing the many rifts that war unleashed on so many." Her eyes narrowed. "We charge you, Minister Fudge, to do all that is possible to ensure ALL Our Magical Subjects will feel at peace within Our Realm," she declared in a stern voice which made the backs of the wizards and witches present stiffen. "We do not expect miracles. But We do expect a good and honest effort from you and your subordinates in this matter. Too many of Our Magical Subjects feel they are separated BOTH from the society they see themselves as a part of AND the other societies of Our Realm to which they can never truly belong." She then relaxed. "Please, Cornelius. In the name of simple humanity, make it better."

Cornelius blinked, and then he nodded. "So I will, Your Majesty."

* * *

Hogwarts, the Gryffindor dorm . . .

"Hey, Harry?"

Harry perked on hearing that voice, and then he turned. "What is it, Ron?"

"Sorry to bug you," Ron said as he stepped into Harry's and Neville's bedroom space. Neville was in the common room, having joined a study group Hermione had formed to help with those people who needed to get up to speed in certain subjects. Scabbers was relaxing in Ron's shirt pocket, gazing everywhere as he took in all that was around him, his nose twitching as he sniffed around. Ron then turned as a much older version of himself, looking quite roguish and handsome, an earring on his left side and his red hair tied in a tight ponytail, walked in. "This is my oldest brother, Bill. He was Head Boy here in 1988 and 1989. He works as a curse breaker at Gringotts now. He's part of the team cleaning up that mess at the History of Magic classroom."

"Hey, Harry!" Bill said as he held out his hand.

Harry shook the hand. "A pleasure, Bill. Just a second. Jeanny?"

_Pop!_ "What would you desires, Master Harry?" a cute girl elf asked.

"Some tea for my guests and I, please?"

"Of course, Master Harry." _Pop!_

Bill and Ron were both stunned. "Merlin! You just asked the elf to send you tea and she does it?" the latter asked as a tea set appeared on Harry's work desk.

"Sure. It's in the rule book Chikage has with her," Harry said as he moved to prepare tea. "Bill, how do you like your tea?"

"Two cream and two sugar," Bill said.

"Ron?"

"Same."

The tea was prepared and handed over. "I wish I knew this when I was here," Bill then said as he sipped his tea. "There were days when I was studying for my OWLs and NEWTs that I would've LOVED to have a good late night tea to keep me awake."

"Well, it only applies to drinks," Harry said. "The kitchen elves are under direct orders from Professor Dumbledore to ensure that any food served out is only served at meals so that people don't end up becoming too fat over the years."

A nod. "Good point. So I heard you refused the chance to play quidditch."

Harry stared at Ron. "Are you STILL trying to get me to play?"

Ron gave him a look. "C'mon, Harry! I saw what you did! That was great!"

"Ron, I'm not going up against my sister on this one," Harry warned.

Bill laughed, and then he looked over at his brother. "Ron, would you do something that would make Ginny mad at you?" As the youngest brother paused, his mouth opening and closing several times, the oldest brother reached over to pat his shoulder. "Then why the hell do you think Harry would do something to get Rose mad at him?"

Ron blinked, and then he sighed. "Yeah, that's true."

"So how's the work in the classroom?" Harry wondered.

Bill shuddered. "All the goblins are in awe of what your friend did to the place. I've NEVER seen a mess like that before! And I've been helping excavate magical tombs in Egypt since I graduated two years ago! What was it she used?"

"A soulsword," Harry said. "It's not magic but pure _ki_ force channelled into a weapon that can destroy or kill next to anything it's used on."

"Blimey!" Ron breathed out. "And she learned that when she was only SIX?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, so she said. In fact, as soon as she can get some things set up, Chikage'll start teaching me how to use my own _ki_ to augment my magic."

Bill hummed. "So it's not just her learning from us, eh?"

"Well, Grand-uncle Ryūji taught a lot of things in turn," Harry said. "It was a pretty fair trade." He then stared at Ron. "So did you write your parents?"

Ron smiled. "Yeah, sent it off with Hermes; Percy let me borrow him."

Bill then grinned. "You didn't need to do that, Ron!"

"Huh?"

The curse breaker smirked as he pulled out a shrunken package from his shirt pocket. Ron then gaped as Bill enlarged it, revealing a Cleansweep Nine sports broom. "Bill!" the youngest brother cried out. "When'd you get this?"

"I actually bought it when they started producing these things," Bill said as Ron put the tea cup down and took the broom in hand. "I was going to save it for your birthday in March, but when I heard they were going to let first years try out for quidditch, I decided to make it an early Christmas present for you."

Ron grinned as he hugged his brother. "Thanks!"

"Hey! Watch out for your pet," Harry warned. "Don't want to squish him!"

The youngest Weasley jolted, and then he laughed as he took the broom and raced out of the bedroom. "Hey, Seamus! Dean! Wait until you see this!" he called out.

Harry and Bill shook their heads, and then the former drew out his wand. "_Kyojun: Cubiculum Impervius_," he said.

The latter was quick to sense the wave of energy that flooded the room as the curtains were sealed shut and the room became impenetrable to any monitoring charms. He nodded. "So that's the _Kokujun_, huh?" As Harry looked at him, the curse breaker then smiled. "I had to take the Loyal Oath to the Crown when I began working for Gringotts, Harry; it was part of my basic contract with them. Only then would they start telling me some things. Including what's on the east side of the tower you and your sister live at these days. Much less what your sister REALLY does for the Queen."

Harry relaxed. "Sorry about that. So how bad was it?"

"The classroom?" Bill asked, and then he shook his head. "It was sickening, but Chikage got it all. We're just cleaning it up and setting up new guard wards there - and elsewhere in the castle - to prevent another of those damned things from coming to the school. I hear Hogan Roper's wife is taking over as Professor of History. I've read some things she's written for her Mastery in Magical History." A smirk. "Once they get wind of what's going to happen, the mudbrains - especially all of Voldemort's friends who got away from Azkaban - are going to be really mad. I hope the Shire Reeve for Perth is ready to jump in to make sure things stay safe for everyone."

Harry nodded. "Grand-uncle Peter - that's his name, Peter Young - was two years behind Grandpa Glaston, Grand-aunt Wilma and Grand-uncle Ryūji here at school; he's been the Magical Sheriff of Perth since 1952. Grandpapa Albus has had a direct floo to Reevetor Pheairt since he took his Loyal Oath to the Crown in 1986, sometime after he came to the Hill and tried to contact Chikage's grandfather because of Rose and the others." He sipped his tea. "How many of your family know about your Oath?"

"No one," Bill replied. "It's not as hard to hide it as you might think, Harry. I disguise whatever I know about what the Magical Sheriffs protect as part of the oaths of confidentiality I took when I started working for Gringotts. My parents understand that; so does everyone else. It's not a real big problem for me."

"What about your mom?" Harry then asked. "Fred and George told me she was the one who drove Ron into trying to be my friend when I came here. Much that I wouldn't mind that - he does seem a pretty okay guy even if some of his attitudes need to be fed to a kraken! - I'm still wondering why your mom pushed for that."

A sigh. "Harry, please don't think Mother's a bad person. She's got a heart of gold and the willpower to do all she can to make everyone safe." Bill closed his eyes. "I love my mother very much. She's a wonderful, sweet and caring person. But she has two problems she doesn't seem to want to acknowledge. First is that she's sometimes TOO caring. She never liked the idea of me going off to work for Gringotts." He smirked. "She can't protect me, in other words. That scares her and makes her worry all the time. Much that I understand why Mother feels that way - if you didn't know this, she lost all her family thanks to Voldemort and his people - there are times it gets really aggravating. Hence the reason I volunteered to go off to Egypt."

The younger boy nodded. "I guess I can understand that. What else is there?"

"You have friends in other houses now, right? Including Slytherin?" As Harry nodded, Bill sighed. "That will make Mother go crazy. She hasn't gotten past the attitude being in this place puts on many people. 'Your only friends are the ones you shared a dorm with!' The idea of being friends with anyone who was NOT a Gryffindor is something she can't accept. Especially if the person's in Slytherin!"

"She's not the only one who feels that way," Harry noted. "When I first met up with him back in August, Grand-uncle Rubeus told me that there wasn't a single wizard or witch who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin." A shrug as he shook his head. "What about Sirius Black, Bill? He was Gryffindor and he betrayed my parents to Riddle!"

"Yeah, that's true," Bill noted with a nod. "And try as people might to make Mother realise that, they won't succeed. She's too damned stubborn! She's going to push Ron - and Ginny when she gets here next year - to be as close as possible to you and try to find some way to force you from anyone who's not a Gryffindor." He sighed. "And there's another problem, too, Harry. Ginny's got a huge crush on you."

Silence.

"Um . . . how?" Harry then asked. "I've never met the girl!"

"Have you ever seen the books written about you?"

Harry blinked for a moment, and then a laugh escaped him as he rolled his eyes. "Nice stories, but I sure as hell won't accept them as fact!" he then said. "Rose bought one when we went shopping for my school supplies. When she finally got the chance to read it after Chikage came here, she was laughing for a whole day!" A very mirthless look then crossed his face. "Pity I'm getting both Grand-uncle Ragnok and Uncle Erlking to go after all those people who've used my personal image and my name to make their products. I haven't seen a SINGLE GALLEON out of that in royalties or anything of that sort . . . and I'll be damned if I'm going to let it go on further. And I won't have it happen to Rose either; she doesn't deserve that."

Bill nodded. "Good for you." He then sighed. "Unfortunately, those stories are considered FACT in the eyes of a lot of people in our world, Harry," he warned, grinning. "Ginny's one of them. She says it's her dream to be your wife when you become old enough. And Mother supports that."

"Doubt she'll survive Rose for long," Harry warned. "I may know some things about what goes on between boys and girls, but I'm not worried about that. I've got a bigger problem to worry about." He shrugged. "Besides, would Ginny last at the Hill?"

Bill shook his head. "Hard to say. Who's your magical guardian?"

"Remus Lupin is. And he swore the Oath to the Crown, too."

A nod. "So we won't have to worry about Mother trying to push for a formal engagement between you two. That oath protects you both from any marriage law the Wizengamot can pass, much less any ministerial decree." He then sighed. "Still, Ginny's pretty determined. So PLEASE, Harry, don't break her heart."

"I'll try not to," Harry promised . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	9. History of Magic

Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom . . .

"Thanks again, Professor!"

"Y-y-you're quite w-w-welcome, Miss F-f-Fenwick."

As the seventh year Hufflepuff girl stepped out of the classroom, Quirinus motioned with his wand to close and lock the door. Once that was done, he took a deep breath. "A most able student. Would you not agree, Master?" he then asked.

"Indeed I do. She would serve well were she not muggleborn," Voldemort's voice echoed from underneath the turban. "What are your thoughts, Quirinus?"

"On what, Master?"

"Rose Potter?"

The defence professor hummed as he moved to begin marking papers for a snap test he had held for the sixth year NEWT class on Monday. "Hadn't things happened ten years ago like they did, she - and her brother - could have been most formidable warriors in your service, Master. But sadly, given what did happen, she - and Harry, too - can and most likely will become dangerous enemies to you. Once she is here, how she survived will become fully known to the general public." A shake of the head. "I fear that will not do your cause any good in the long term, Master."

A sigh. "Unfortunately true. Still, Glaston, in his own way, made it better in the long term. I wonder who these other girls Albus mentioned are."

"I could ask around, Master."

"Be discrete in doing so," the dark lord noted. "It is a pity, though."

"How so, Master?"

"That we will have to kill a child with such incredible potential. And she's been wand-trained since she was FOUR? I only began mastering my magic when I was SIX!" A chuckle. "Oh, Ryūji, you insane genius, you! Only YOU could have thought of something so typically noble . . . and so incredibly effective, too!"

"What will we do about her, sir?"

"What do you mean?"

"Chikage?"

An icy chill then flooded Quirinus from head to toe. "What are you implying?" the dark lord then wondered in a voice that threatened an eternity of pain.

"F-f-forgive m-m-me, Master," the defence professor then simpered. "B-b-but did you n-n-not hear wh-wh-what she did a-a-at s-s-supper? H-h-how she . . .!"

A laugh then echoed through the classroom as the chill in Quirinus' body faded. "Oh, Quirinus, stop panicking!" Voldemort scolded. "You need not fear her."

"But Master, she has the power to destroy spirits!"

"True. And so does Ryūji."

Silence.

"Sir?"

A chuckle. "I have seen a soulsword used, Quirinus."

The professor's jaw dropped. "You DID?"

"Back in my first year," the disembodied dark lord stated. "It was actually during the Christmas holiday of Ryūji's final year here. He elected to remain at Hogwarts instead of returning to Glaston's family home as he did before; he wanted to put in some final studying for his NEWTs. I was there as I did not desire to return to that damnable orphanage I grew up in. There were very few of us at the school at the time; none of Ryūji's friends like Glaston or Wilma were there." A pause, and then Quirinus sensed a smile from Voldemort. "There was a banshee attack on the school."

The professor's eyes widened. "I heard of that! The 'Yule Scream of 1938,' it was called! It was Master Ryūji that stopped it? The books all said . . .!"

"It was Armando Dippet that was credited for what happened," Voldemort finished for his servant, and then he laughed. "No. He was just as scared of the damned things as we all were! Except Ryūji! Here, my friend, is what happened . . . "

* * *

_Hogwarts, the Great Hall, Saturday 24 December 1938 . . ._

_ Tom Riddle was shuddering in mortal terror. "What are they?"  
_

_ "They're banshees!" Myrtle O'Neil cried out as she held Tom close to her._

_ And there was not just one banshee, but a baker's dozen of them._

_ While not unleashing their full deadly scream that could kill just as lethally and as finally as _Avada Kedavra_, the thirteen very beautiful women who had appeared suddenly within the Great Hall were bellowing out, their power causing the hall to tremble as tables shuddered and cutlery shattered. There were a small group of students from all the years there, the older ones with their wands up as they tried to raise _Protego_ shields to protect the younger ones. The only teacher there was Armando Dippet, who was trying to summon a spirit-banishing charm he knew of to rid the castle of these creatures. Two seventh-year students were protecting him._

_ Just as one of the women turned towards Tom and Myrtle, opening her mouth as she prepared to unleash her attack, the doors to the Great Hall exploded inward, causing everyone - even the banshees - to stop and spin around. They then watched as a man with deep lavender-purple hair, dressed in a casual kimono and hakama - which was normal non-class dress for Ryūji Hirosaki - marched in, his right hand holding what appeared to Tom and Myrtle to be a Japanese sword forged of pure fire. "RYŪJI!" a sixth-year girl gasped on recognising the Traveller. "STAY AWAY! THESE . . .!"_

_ "_**SEISHIN SHURIKEN ARASHI!**_"_

_ Everyone's jaws all hit the floor as a virtual blizzard of energy balls blasted forth from the palm of Ryūji's left hand to slam into the banshees, staggering them as if they had just been hit with a storm of canister fire from a Ordnance Q.F. six-pounder artillery piece under the guidance of the most well-trained gun crews of the Royal Horse Artillery. As the wizards and witches watched in disbelief, the invading death spirits all collapsed to the floor as Ryūji advanced on them, raising his burning blade up in a classical overhead beheading stroke used in kenjutsu and iaijutsu._

_ Tom then watched spellbound as the blade came down to sever the head of the banshee that had been prepared to kill himself and Myrtle in one clean blow. As the creature collapsed and disintegrated, the other banshees spun around, their eyes wide with shock and disbelief as they came to realise that this handsome foreign wizard had the means in his very hands right now to kill them all. As they moved to scream at him, Ryūji smirked as he glared at them, lowering his blade as he relaxed himself._

_ "Are you so willing to embrace Death today, _Ojōsama-tachi_?" he asked in his accented English. "I could silence your screams with spirit shuriken to the throat, then behead you as I just beheaded your sister. These good people will not be the ones to enter Avalon. That I promise you." The smile slipped from his face. "Leave."_

_ "_**KILL HIM!**_" one of the banshees screamed. "_**HE KILLED SEQUANA!**_"_

_ The others roared as they surged up, their mouths opening . . ._

_ "_**SEISHIN SHURIKEN ARASHI!**_"_

_ Another storm of energy bolts cut them down as Ryūji lunged at them._

_ And as the wizards and witches who were there that day watched with wide eyes and dropped jaws, they all learned that the katana - even one made of pure energy - was, in the hands of a master, truly the deadliest edged weapon ever made . . ._

* * *

"Amazing . . . "

"Indeed," Voldemort stated. "I asked Ryūji what it would require to learn how to use such a weapon as a soulsword." He then sighed. "He stated that it would require one to leap completely beyond the boundaries of magic to embrace something - he had no name for it - that was BEYOND magic to master such a weapon." A chuckle. "He then told me that if I mastered everything of magic in this universe, I would stand a very good chance to learn the ways of the soul and make a soulsword possible. That is what drove me in many ways to become what I became in the end, Quirinus."

"And it was Master Ryūji who showed you the way?"

"Yes. He inspired me to do what was needed to prove our sad and sick society wrong when it comes to those blessed with magic," the dark lord stated. "Even now, to see his granddaughter here, going forth on her Quest, I am inspired." A pause. "Under NO circumstances must Chikage be stopped, Quirinus. What she learns, WE learn!"

A nod. "I understand, Master."

"And Quirinus?"

"Yes, Master?"

"When it comes time to attempt for the Stone, not a HAIR is to be harmed on that girl's head!" the dark lord then growled. "Do you understand me?"

The defence professor then shuddered. "Y-y-yes, M-m-Master . . . "

* * *

The Vanished Wing, Wednesday 4 September . . .

"So you believe you can get the equipment I require?"

"Oh, it will be easy enough, Lady Hirosaki," Erlking noted. The goblin director and Chikage - along with Harry and all their friends - were standing in the now-empty southeast classroom of the Vanished Wing; it was now the start of the final period of the day and the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs of the group had just come out of a double class of Transfiguration with Minerva McGonagall. "We are aware of the needs one would desire to set up an aikidō dōjō; we do have a branch in Nagasaki and the wizards and witches of Japan find it quite useful to incorporate the normal martial art forms into their magical studies." He then smirked. "They might be jealous if they learn of this: The Young Traveller, who IS Japanese, coming to BRITAIN to learn magic!"

"In my universe, the Dejima School has always been too . . . " - Here, Chikage made a side-to-side motion of her head as she tried to think up of the best term to use before sighing - " . . . conservative when it comes to teaching magic. Then again, in my universe, Dejima has to compete with all the regional Magical Associations, who hang on to the more traditional ways of doing magic in my land. I don't know what it's like in this universe, but given how the gifted ones back home view wands . . . "

"It is virtually the same way here as well," Ragnok stated as he came up to join them. "In fact, Japan and Britain share one quite unique common trait: The propensity for Dark Lords to arise and cause trouble. There, it was the Dark Lady Tsukuyomi who tried to have the ways of the West ousted from her land at the time of Grindelwald. It's a pity Japan decided to side with Germany in that war; had they stayed neutral, the chances were there that she would have won and showed the rest of the Orient that they could reject the ways of Europe for their own traditional ways. Instead . . . "

"Stupid," Chikage said, shaking her head.

"Do they all use wands there, Chief Director?" Hermione asked.

"Not that we are aware of, Lady Granger," Ragnok stated. "Then again, most wizards and witches in Japan - and I say this meaning no disrespect to yourself, Lady Hirosaki - have less to do with us than wizards here in Britain do."

"No doubt because you're seen as a 'western' magical being, not born in lands they are familiar with," Chikage stated. "That could be said to be one of the GOOD things my Earth's interaction with the _Mundus Magicus_ provoked."

"How so?" Erlking asked.

"In Japan, interactions between our worlds have been around since the time of the Jimmu Emperor twenty-six hundred years ago. Because of that, not only did the magicals of Japan develop their own forms of magic, but also imported a lot of magical theory from the _Mundus Magicus_. By the time the Portuguese and the Dutch began to interact with our nation in the 1500s, the ancestral organizations of the regional Magical Associations were pretty much in place and held such sway over the Imperial Court and the Shōgun that it was next to impossible for wizards trained in 'foreign' ways to gain any influence." Chikage crossed her arms. "And that ensured that Japan - and in their own ways, Korea and China - would remain pretty much free of the influence of the International Confederation of Wizards until . . . "

Silence then fell as a lost look crossed her face. "Until when?" Aesup asked.

The traveller blinked. "Sorry about that, Aesup. But I think I just ran into one of those memory blocks Grandmother Nicole put on me," she then confessed.

"Something that changed the Confederation in your universe?"

"Most likely," Chikage replied as Albus walked into the classroom.

"Well, perhaps we'll learn of it when this is all over with and those blocks wear off," the headmaster then noted before he smiled politely at the two senior goblins. "Good afternoon, Ragnok. Erlking. How goes things with you?"

"Good afternoon, Albus. We'll be done in another hour and be out of your way by suppertime," Ragnok stated. "All the new wards are in place and that classroom is as clean as the day it was built. You won't have one of those _things_ . . . " - His lips twisted into a sneer as he thought of the creature Chikage destroyed the previous day - " . . . to bother you or influence the teaching of your young ones ever again."

"For that, my eternal thanks, old friend."

"You need not thank us. It is the Young Traveller here that we must ALL thank for ridding the world of such a creature." Ragnok then perked. "Oh, speaking of which, Lady Hirosaki, I just remembered something. There is a standing award our people automatically give to any wizard or witch who helps dispose of a tsidoki. Your vault should have a hundred thousand galleons extra in it now." As whistles of awe escaped the traveller's friends, the chief director of Gringotts in Britain added, "That should keep you well provisioned for your stay in our dimension, I believe."

"Actually, I can be very frugal when I have to be," Chikage noted. "Director Erlking, how fast do you want to earn fifty thousand galleons?"

The director gaped at her. "Who do I have to kill?" he demanded.

The children laughed. "No one," Chikage stated as she gazed intently at him. "Just liaise with your friends over in Nagasaki to get me the best equipment for an aikidō dōjō that fifty thousand galleons can purchase. I'll have that equipment placed here for the time being and I will gift it to Hogwarts in perpetuity, so I want it to be magically hardened and as long-lasting as possible. Do it to my satisfaction and the other fifty thousand from that reward is yours as a bonus. Agreed?"

After hearing THAT, Erlking found himself trying to pick his jaw from the floor as Ragnok laughed and the children and Albus all found themselves grinning . . .

* * *

History of Magic classroom, Thursday 5 September . . .

"So Jane's mother got her mastery in history?" Daphne mused as everyone walked down the hallway. "I thought that was impossible!"

"So did a lot of people, but she pulled it off," Achelois said as the first years from Ravenclaw and Slytherin made their way into the classroom. "She had to get herself accredited on the Continent because there was no one really capable of accrediting her in the Ministry here in England. She hopes to change it."

As they walked inside, everyone then took a look around the classroom as they tried to pick out the differences between what they had seen of this place on Monday when they had been put to sleep by the droning lecture of Cuthbert Binns and now. While the room itself seemed the same, the sharp-eyed ones were quick to see the various maps on the walls now. One of them quickly caught Sǔ's attention as she walked over to take a closer look, and then she squealed. "I don't believe it!"

"What, Sǔ? What?" Mòrag demanded.

She pointed to the map. "This is a map of the _Mundus Magicus!_"

Silence.

"_**WHAT?**_"

Everyone quickly clamoured over to take a closer look, quickly noting the considerable differences of landmass and ocean distribution between that world and Earth; a political map of Earth was displayed to the right of the map of the _Mundus Magicus_. "What is it?" Millicent asked. "I've never heard of such a place!"

"That's the place Chikage's grandfather and the man who sacrificed himself to save Harry's sister first discovered in 1936," Stephen declared. He then pointed to a place on the upper left side of the map. "See this town here? This is Ariadne! This is the town they actually went to; it's supposedly the version of Hogwarts for the whole PLANET!" As people gaped at him, the blond Ravenclaw shook his head. "How the heck does Professor Roper know about this place?" he then wondered.

"Because I actually visited there shortly after I graduated from Hogwarts."

Gasps filled the room as a disillusionment charm faded, revealing a smiling lady at the head of the room. "Everyone, please take your seats," Veronica then said as she stood from her chair. As the students all made their way to their seats, the history professor adjusted her cape. "I apologise if that wasn't as flashy as what Professor Binns did after he became a ghost, but I hope it will try to lighten the mood up."

Laughter filled the room. Veronica did the attendance, and then she tapped the blackboard with her wand, allowing a series of notes to appear. "Write this down and hang onto it. This is your basic course guide for this year," she then stated.

Everyone read it, and then drew quills to begin writing:

_**HISTORY OF MAGIC YEAR 1: HISTORY OF MAGIC IN BRITAIN PRE-1700**  
FALL TERM_  
- The Ancient Masters  
- Foundation of Hogwarts_  
WINTER TERM_  
- The Wizards' Council of the Crown  
- Refusal of the Magna Carta, 1215_  
SPRING TERM_  
- The Dark Age of Magic  
- The Separation Act, 1692**  
END OF YEAR EXAM**

Once done, everyone put their quills down and stared at Veronica. "Much different than listening to lectures on goblin rebellions, isn't it?" she asked.

"I never expected THIS!" Lisa noted.

Laughter filled the room. "I feel it's necessary," Veronica said as she paced at the front of the room. "I was just like you back twenty years ago. A first year student, just sorted into Slytherin, wondering a lot about what I would end up learning here." A huff. "Well, as you all got to experience on Monday, it wasn't that much!"

More laughter. "And that, my friends, is a CRIME that was perpetuated on you and all those before you since that tsidoki came to this place and did what he did to Professor Binns," Veronica then said. "I remember his lectures quite well. It was a tidal wave of dates, names and basic factoids that I found next to IMPOSSIBLE to remember . . .!" She then shrugged. "And it ultimately meant NOTHING to me! All he did was talk about goblin rebellions! What does THAT have to do with HISTORY?" She then sighed as she crossed her arms. "Before we begin this year, I want to ask you all a simple question: What IS history?" Hands went up. "Daphne?" she called out.

"It's a study of the past."

"Good answer. Mòrag?"

"It's learning what happened when and why," Mòrag answered.

"Also good answer. Blaise?"

"It's a story," Blaise said.

Veronica smirked. "Ten points to Slytherin. How did you come up with that?"

He smiled. "It's in the very word, Professor Roper. 'History.' It's a contraction of the phrase 'his story,'" he said as he relaxed in his chair.

"Excellent. Well done, Blaise. So - ignoring the idiot gender bias that we did away with some centuries ago and our normal cousins have been working hard to get rid of since the 1960s - let's consider that phrase. A story about a person. But it just can't be of only ONE person for there is far much more that just one person in any society. Write this down." She then scribbled something on the board:

_**MAGICAL POPULATION OF THE U.K. (1991): 330,621**_

"How's it that high?"

Veronica turned to Mandy. "What do you think it is?"

"The census in 1986 said there were only 81,484 wizards in Britain!"

A nod. "Good point. But how was that census conducted? Padma?"

Padma put her arm down. "It was a census of all wizards and witches who paid taxes to the Ministry of Magic and all relatives of same."

A nod. "That's right. That census did not, however, take in all the wizards and witches - regardless of magical power - who have, over the years, elected to leave what is normally seen as 'wizarding society' and go live among the normals." Veronica pointed to herself. "I am one of them, as are my husband, daughters and all my immediate relatives." As people stared at her, she gazed on them. "That is part of what we're going to be studying this year, everyone. And - if I have it my way (and I will!) - in third year when we look at British magical society after 1700."

"What are we doing in second year?" Kevin asked.

Veronica nodded. "Alright, Kevin. That's a valid question. Here's the basic make-up of what you'll be studying in the seven years here at Hogwarts." She drew out her wand and tapped the blackboard, which caused the list of first year topics to shrink and become something much more complex, which made everyone's jaws drop:

_**HISTORY OF MAGIC YEAR 1: HISTORY OF MAGIC IN BRITAIN PRE-1700**  
FALL TERM_  
- The Ancient Masters  
- Foundation of Hogwarts_  
WINTER TERM_  
- The Wizards' Council of the Crown  
- Refusal of the Magna Carta, 1215_  
SPRING TERM_  
- The Dark Age of Magic  
- The Separation Act, 1692**  
END OF YEAR EXAM**

_**HISTORY OF MAGIC YEAR 2: HISTORY OF MAGIC WORLDWIDE**  
FALL TERM_  
- The Ancient Realms  
- The Infinite Paths of Magic  
- Why Wands?_  
WINTER TERM_  
- The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy  
- The International Confederation of Wizards_  
SPRING TERM_  
- Worldwide Wizarding Relations**  
END OF YEAR EXAM**

_**HISTORY OF MAGIC YEAR 3: HISTORY OF MAGIC IN BRITAIN POST-1700**  
FALL TERM_  
- Her Majesty's Ministry of Magic  
- Magicals among the Normals  
- The Magical Royal Proclamations_  
WINTER TERM_  
- British Magical Society in the 1700s, 1800s and 1900s  
- Gellert Grindelwald's War_  
SPRING TERM_  
- Voldemort's War/The Blood Purification War  
- Modern British Magical Society**  
END OF YEAR EXAM**

_**HISTORY OF MAGIC YEAR 4: THE NOBLE TRIBES OF THE REALM**  
FALL TERM_  
- The Magical Beings, Beasts and Spirits Act, 1811  
- The Magical Royal Proclamation of the Noble Tribes, 1815  
- The Goblins  
- The Centaurs_  
WINTER TERM_  
- The Merpeople  
- The Vampires  
- The House Elves and Forest Elves_  
SPRING TERM_  
- Other Magical Species  
- The Lunar Therianthropes  
- Interspecies Relations in Britain**  
END OF YEAR EXAM**

_**HISTORY OF MAGIC YEAR 5: ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL THESIS AND EXAMINATION**  
FALL TERM_  
- OWL Thesis Essay (Student's Choice of Subject)_  
WINTER TERM_  
- Review of Years 1-2_  
SPRING TERM_  
- Review of Years 3-4  
- Pre-NEWT Studies Appraisal**  
ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL EXAMINATION**

_**HISTORY OF MAGIC YEAR 6: A WORLD OF MAGIC (NERIO, A.K.A. THE **_**MUNDUS MAGICUS**_**)**  
FALL TERM_  
- The Prehistoric Break-up of Mars and Nerio; When One World Became Two  
- Evolution of Life and Magic on Nerio  
- The Tribes  
- The Rise of the Magical Academic City of Ariadne_  
WINTER TERM_  
- The Tribal Alliances  
- Interspecies Relations  
- First Contact, 1936  
- The Treaty of Two Worlds, 1945_  
SPRING TERM_  
- Relations Between the _Mundus Magicus_ and the Crown  
- Relations Between the _Mundus Magicus_ and the Noble Tribes  
- Field Trip to the Garden of the Galaxy**  
END OF YEAR EXAM**

_**HISTORY OF MAGIC YEAR 7: NASTILY EXHAUSTING WIZARDING TEST THESIS AND EXAMINATION**  
FALL TERM_  
- NEWT Thesis Essay (Student's Choice of Subject)_  
WINTER TERM_  
- Review of Years 1-2_  
SPRING TERM_  
- Review of Years 3-4 and 6  
- Mastery of History Appraisal**  
NASTILY EXHAUSTING WIZARDING TEST EXAMINATION**

Silence.

"You people are lucky compared to your seniors," Veronica then said as many of the students there stared wide-eyed at that huge list. "For them, it's been years upon years of what you fortunately only had to experience on Monday. Boring, mind-numbing lectures on goblin rebellions which, if you ask me, really have NO relevance to people unless you plan on a future career in Gringotts! I can cover that in one MONTH'S time! So for those who are in the higher years now - especially those facing their OWLs as (fortunately!) there are no NEWT history students - I'm going to have to cram all this in the first MONTH of studies so they can catch up to their year level so they can learn this!"

"Why learn all this, then?"

Veronica stared at Draco, and then she smiled. "Why indeed," she said as she moved to take her seat. "That is a very valid question to ask, Draco. Ten points to Slytherin. Now, who amongst you were sitting close to Chikage Hirosaki at suppertime Tuesday after she got rid of the tsidoki?" Hands went up. "What did she say?" As many hands went down, Veronica then smiled as she looked over. "Tracey?"

"She quoted someone who said, 'Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it,'" Tracey said. "I don't remember the person's name, though."

"That's alright, Tracey. And that is the theme for you all this year. Now, I know many of you are related to people who gladly fought for this man ten years ago." Veronica tapped the name mentioned for study in spring term of the third year. "And by the way, I don't care for that 'You-Know-Who' or 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' garbage. His real name is Thomas Marvolo Riddle. Slytherin, NEWT class of 1945; he was also the Head Boy at school that year. He went by 'Tom' when he was here. Watch this." She drew her wand and made a motion with it that allowed the name **TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE** appear in the air in front of the desks. "Now watch this," Veronica said as she made a motion with her wand to change the letters to read **I AM LORD VOLDEMORT**.

Jaws dropped. "That's right," Veronica said as she dispelled the image. "He anagramised his name into something he hoped would make him remembered and feared." She took a deep breath. "Nearly six thousand died because of that." As everyone - even those among the Slytherins whom Veronica KNEW were the children of Death Eaters - all took that in, many of them gulping in fear, she relaxed against her desk. "What that creature Chikage killed on Tuesday afternoon did, in his own way, was to make you stop thinking. What I hope to help you all do as I teach you this class is to make you THINK! Because THAT is the one thing people like Gellert Grindelwald, Tom Riddle and all the rest of those maniacs that have born the moniker 'dark lord' over the years and centuries NEVER wanted people like you to do. Whether it was under the slogan 'for the greater good' or 'for purity of blood' or whatever idiot motto they used to try to rally allies under their banner so they could do what they wanted to do, they couldn't succeed unless they made people like you and all your relatives IGNORANT!"

"Is it true?"

Veronica perked. "Is what true, Draco?"

"Is the Dark Lord a half-blood?"

"When he was born and he attended Hogwarts, the answer was a clear 'yes,'" the professor answered. "As to what he turned himself into by the time he tried to kill Harry in 1981, I can't say. Here's what is known: His father, Thomas Albert Riddle, was a normal, a yeoman from a town in East Sussex named Little Hangleton, which is close to the English Channel coast. He, like almost all normals alive in Britain at the time, had utterly no knowledge of the magical world . . . " She then scowled. "Until he learned that his wife, the former Merope Gaunt, was a witch. And not just any witch, but one who doused him with Amorentia to make him fall in love with her so they could marry." She paused as many of the people there looked disgusted. "In effect, the young Tom Riddle was born out of a very ugly act of magical _rape_."

"What happened, Professor?" Andrew asked.

"Unfortunately, Merope had neither wealth nor much in the way of magical power, to say ANYTHING of living relatives," Veronica said. "She was also a very frail woman. She died in childbirth and her son, whom she named after her ex-husband and her father, was sent to an orphanage in London, where he grew up." As looks of sympathy crossed the faces of most of the children there, she took a breath. "And there he remained, totally cut off from his mother's society, until just after the turn of the New Year in 1938. At that time, one of the professors at Hogwarts went to him after he was sent his invite to come to the school. And he learned at last where he felt he belonged."

"I heard he was a very good student," Pansy noted. "He got a school reward."

"That's right. He worked very hard. But consider this: What happened to him when school was NOT in session? Can anyone think of that?" Hands went up. "Mòrag?"

"He was sent back tae th' orphanage," Mòrag answered.

"What happens when a magical child below age of majority returns to the normal world? Gregory?"

"They can't practice magic," Gregory said.

"And if they do? Millicent?"

"They are accused of violating the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery," Millicent answered.

"And if the violation is severe enough, what happens? Theodore?"

"They're expelled from Hogwarts and their wand's snapped," Theodore said.

"Any exceptions? Vincent?"

"Unless it was seen as a justified act," Vincent said.

"Such as? Padma?"

"Defending yourself or relatives from a Death Eater," Padma stated.

A nod. "Studying history, to fall back on what Blaise said, is ultimately the studying of the story of each person alive and those who lived before us," Veronica stated. "It's the study of each and every one of YOU, believe it or not." She pointed to each person in the class. "It's also the study of how each and every one of YOU - with your stories - interacts with everyone else with THEIR stories. We're going to look at it from as far back as we can. And in doing so, I hope to demonstrate to each of you how those people (and how they interacted with each other) came to make our society and our lives the way they are today. THAT is why we need to learn history." She held up a finger to emphasize her point. "Remember what Chikage said. Each and every one of you is a target for someone like Tom Riddle, either as someone to convert to his or her cause . . . or someone to destroy because you're not 'worthy.' If you're ignorant of why this is happening, the end result will be like it was ten years ago. Do you want to go through that? Much less see your relatives go through it?"

People shook their heads. Veronica smiled. "I realise that many of you have your own conceptions of how you live your life. I'm not going to try to make you all change your minds. But what I HOPE to do in this class is to make you realise WHY you have those conceptions and beliefs. That, I believe, you all HAVE to learn. For the study of history is the study of your home society and how it came to be. You cannot make your mark in that society unless you understand EVERYTHING about it! And I hope to show as much as I can about your society while you're here." She smirked as she winked at them. "And I hope to Heaven that I don't put you all to sleep doing it!"

Laughter filled the room. "Alright, then!" the history professor then said. "So ends my introductory speech. Any questions?" Hands went up. "Yes, Daphne?"

Daphne pointed to the map on the wall. "Did you really go there?"

Veronica laughed. "Yes, I did. I actually went there for my honeymoon with my husband after we got married!" As people gaped at her, she then winked at them. "And it was in Ariadne where my oldest daughter Lisa was conceived!" As laughter, whoops and catcalls echoed in answer to that, she then looked over. "Yes, Draco?"

"Why study the history of another world, even if it's a magical one?" Draco asked. "I mean, we don't interact with these people at all! Why look on them?"

A nod. "Good question. Anyone want to try to answer that? Sǔ?"

"Because there's a treaty between our world and that one," Sǔ answered.

Another nod as people's jaws dropped. "That's right. Specifically, the Treaty of Two Worlds, signed in 1945. It exists ONLY between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on our side and the Independent Magical Academic City of Ariadne on their side." She walked over to point to the location on the map. "That was signed between His Majesty, King George VI, on behalf of Britain; and the Chief Sorceress and Schoolmistress, Madame Fredia Goatherd, on behalf of Ariadne."

"Why sign a treaty?" Pansy asked.

Veronica smiled. "Who from here encountered the _Mundus Magicus_? Michael?"

"Glaston Tore and Ryūji Hirosaki," Michael answered.

"How did they get there? Kevin?"

"Chikage's grandfather designed something to let them go over," Kevin said.

"Interesting conclusion. What do you think that might be? Padma?"

"The Garden of the Galaxy?" Padma asked.

Veronica chuckled. "Actually, to be honest with you, the Garden itself was built AFTER Ryūji and Glaston went to Ariadne. Ryūji built the Garden as a way of thanking the wizarding world of our dimension for allowing him to study here." As people quickly scribbled that down, she added, "But it was at the site of the Garden that Ryūji and Glaston left to go to Ariadne. As to the 'why,' I can't really say."

"There's a way tae find out," Mòrag noted.

"And how's that, Mòrag?"

The redhead grinned. "Ask Chikage!"

Laughter filled the room. "Ten points to Ravenclaw," Veronica said, and then she winked. "And remember, people: ASK her! Don't MOB her!"

More laughter responded . . .

* * *

The Slytherin dorms, after supper . . .

"You two were awfully quiet during Professor Roper's class," Pansy noted.

Achelois and Camellia exchanged looks, and then they shrugged. "We knew it all, Pansy," the former stated as she lay back on her bed. The first year girls were all gathered together in Achelois' and Camellia's bedroom. "If we had taken over all the answers, it's guaranteed that Aunt Ronnie would be ripping points from both of us for preventing you from making answers. That's what she wants in her class, remember?"

"What do you think the guys are doing now?" Daphne asked.

"Most likely all gaping in shock and wondering what's real in this world of ours," Camellia noted as she scanned her history textbook. "We all know the truth about what their dads - Blaise excepted - did ten years ago, after all."

Nods around the room. "I can see why the truth about You-Know-Who never went out," Millicent noted. "If people found out that the man who fought and killed for pureblood supremacy was actually a half-blood . . .?"

"Hold it, Millie," Achelois said as she drew her wand from under her pillow, and then aimed it at the curtains. "_Kyojun: Cubiculum Impervius_," she called out. As the energy warped around the room, she relaxed herself. "I saw the faces of some of the students from the second and fourth years that had Aunt Ronnie this morning. We don't want to be talking about the Dark Dingbat and what he really is when they can overhear us and they're wondering now if she was lying to them or not."

"What the hell was that?" Tracey asked. "I've never heard that spell before."

"It's another thing Chikage's granddad gave us all," Achelois stated. "But for you to learn the whole story, you need to make a certain oath to the Crown first."

"What's the oath?" Pansy asked.

"'I' - and here, you state your full name - 'do solemnly swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second, Her Heirs and Successors, according to law. And that I swear my magic to this oath and pledge my magic to the defence of Her Majesty and to the peace, order and good government of Her Majesty's Realm. This I swear. So mote it be,'" Camellia quoted.

"You have to swear that oath in front of one of the Crown's Magistrates Magical like my mother or Melli's father," Achelois warned. "Or Rose Potter for that matter."

Jaws dropped. "I never heard of them," Tracey noted.

"Wait! In the Separation Act, there's a paragraph that talks about the Crown having the right to elect Magistrates Magical to the Sovereign's service," Daphne noted. "And the Wizards' Council - today, the Ministry - has no power over it."

"That's them," Camellia asked.

"What does swearing this oath mean?" Millicent wondered.

"It means that you will then come under the protection of what Achelois just used to block us off from everyone trying to listen in on us," Camellia stated. "And you will have the power to use that on a local level like she did just now."

"How powerful is it?" Daphne asked.

"It could be powerful enough to stop a Killing Curse," Achelois mused.

Silence.

"Was that what Aunt Lily used to protect Harry?" Pansy asked.

"No, it was . . .!" Achelois stopped as she stared at Pansy. "'Aunt Lily?'"

Daphne and Tracey grinned as Pansy blushed and Millicent broke out in laughter. "It was Harry's parents who nudged Pansy's parents together when they were still in Hogwarts, Achelois," Daphne said. "Ever since Trace and I became her friends, we always got regaled by her and her parents on how Harry's parents made them possible."

Camellia gazed on them. "Would you like to protect your parents as well?"

"And your siblings, too?" Achelois added.

The four other Slytherin girls blinked. "We can?" Pansy asked.

"Sure. We all know none of them ever served the Dark Dingbat, so they'll be more than welcome to make the oath, too," Achelois answered.

"I'll talk to Uncle Severus about it," Camellia promised.

"Would we be safe then?" Daphne asked.

A sigh. "Daph, nothing's perfect in life. Not even something made by Chikage's grandfather," Achelois noted. As the girls laughed, she added, "But I will say that your chances of surviving Riddle's comeback, whenever it happens, improve a lot."

The others nodded. "So what's this dōjō thing Chikage's setting up?" Tracey asked. "I know a dōjō is a place where muggles learn how to fight, but why here?"

Achelois moaned. "Trace, with this berk as our D.A.D.A. teacher?" she demanded. As the others all grinned, she sighed. "Chikage wants to help us learn aikidô. It's an art her grandfather learned when he got back home."

"I've heard of it," Pansy then noted.

"Where?" Daphne asked.

Pansy laughed. "Daph, it's what Steven Seagal practices!"

The blonde gaped. "Oh, Merlin! You mean the man from _Nico_?"

"The same," the brunette said with a nod.

Tracey playfully growled. "Oh, he was good!"

"Who's Steven Seagal?"

Eyes locked on a confused Millicent, and then everyone else laughed . . .

* * *

"Thanks, Professor."

"If you need further help, don't wait to ask, Mister Bole," Severus stated.

"Yes, sir!"

As Lucien Bole walked out of the office, the potions master turned back to his paperwork, and then he tensed. "Yes, Miss Matthews?"

"May I speak to you for a moment, Professor?" Camellia asked.

"Close the door behind you."

The silver-haired girl walked into the office and closed the door, drawing her wand at the same time. "_Kyojun: Officio Impervius_," she called out.

Severus didn't bat an eye when she said that. "The girls?"

Camellia nodded. "All of them. Their relatives, too."

A sigh. "Thank Merlin for that," he said. "I was worried when I saw what Jane's mother had in mind for what she wants to teach in History of Magic. I'm glad some people in this house are willing to take the chance to think things over."

A smile. "Do you blame them? Especially Pansy, Daphne and Tracey?"

A dry laugh. "Not really. I honestly wish Albus would trust Malcolm and Gruoch more. That's why they - and Cyrus and Chloe, not to mention Allan and Lorraine - won't ever fully publicly side with him if or when the Dark Lord returns." He then gazed at her. "How would this be done anyway? Who has to get involved?"

"Well, since the school becomes _in loco parentis_ while we're all here, Grand-uncle Peter can do the oaths for Pansy, Millie, Daphne, Trace and Mike." Michael Parkinson was Pansy's older brother, currently in his second year, a Ravenclaw. "As for the others, it's normally done by the Shire Reeve of the county they live in, but in a pinch, anyone can do it. Just like what Aunt Napaeae did for Uncle Remus."

A hum. "Maybe it would be best for Napaeae to do it. Pansy's, Daphne's and Tracey's parents all remember her and they can persuade Millicent's parents to go along with it," Severus stated. "I'll call her right now. You best get to bed."

"Okay. Thanks, Uncle Severus!"

The _Kokujun_ block on the office was undone and Camellia stepped out. Once the door was closed, the potions master put it back into place, and then he walked over to the fireplace, picking up some floo powder from a bowl he placed on the left side of the mantelpiece - he caught onto that trick thanks to Hogan Roper - and tossed it into the flames. "Reevetor Chestershire!" he called out. "Chessy?"

Napaeae Runcorn's face appeared in the flames. "What is it, Sev?"

"There's something you need to know," he reported . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	10. The Hidden Village of Rhosan Green

The Great Hall, Friday 6 September . . .

"You actually know a family of squibs?" Jane asked.

Sally-Anne nodded. Everyone was at the Hufflepuff table this morning enjoying breakfast and reading the morning post. "Actually, there are about ten families of squibs that live in a private village located in the northern end of the Forest of Dean near The Pludds. They call it Rhosan Green," she explained. It had surprised everyone when the native of Herfordshire had got a letter from someone who had written to her on beautiful parchment even if it was delivered by her pet owl, a lovely masked owl she had named Kyrle in tribute to one of her hometown's most famous citizens. "I stumbled onto it when I was in the forest with my father one day back last summer; this was just before I got my Hogwarts letter and learned I was a witch." She giggled. "Libera - that's her name, Libera Meretrice - was out walking among the trees and worshipping them." She giggled. "It's so funny thinking about it now! **I** could see her, but Dad couldn't!" As people gaped at her, the forester's daughter then laughed. "Which was pretty fortunate for her, since she was totally starkers when I saw her!"

Silence.

"She was NUDE?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Which is understandable."

Eyes locked on Blaise. "You know them?" Daphne asked.

"I know of the family, Daph. They're actually distantly related to my mother's family. When they were still seen as an active magical family before they vanished from view - no doubt because they became squibs - they were pretty passionate when it came to adhering to the old druidic traditions that were active before Hogwarts was founded," Blaise noted. "Sarah, did Libera have my skin colour?"

Sally-Anne smirked. "She's a little lighter than you are, Blaise. I wish I had a picture of her, but my digital camera didn't work in that part of the Forest and I don't have a magical camera. I guess it was a magical ward that was there."

"So why was this girl out in the forest naked as a jaybird?" Achelois wondered.

"Oh, it was some ritual her mother Ceres wanted her to do. I actually met her and Libera's sisters - she's the oldest of a set of quintuplets, believe it or not - that day, too. No doubt, what they were doing was to make sure their place stayed hidden from normals like Dad since they didn't have magic." Sally-Anne then scanned the letter before she laughed. "Oh, there she goes! Calling me a 'mudblood' again."

More silence.

"And you're FRIENDS with this girl?" Hermione angrily exclaimed as everyone gaped at her save Chikage, who only arched an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Of course I am! Just because her mother's a prejudiced bint doesn't mean she or her sisters are bad people!" Sally-Anne stated.

"Every muggleborn I've ever met HATES that word!" Daphne stated.

"That's because they don't know how to turn the insult against the creep that makes it," Sally-Anne stated. "Mom taught me how to do that."

"How did she do that?" Marian demanded.

A giggle. "The Book of Genesis, of course!"

As confusion crossed the faces of all the magically-raised children, Hermione blinked, and then she breathed out. "Right . . .!" she drawled.

"Someone mind telling us what this is all about?" Pansy asked.

Sally-Anne smirked. "Chikage? You want to handle this one?"

Eyes locked on the traveller. "Genesis. Taken from the Greek word meaning 'birth' or 'origin.' In Hebrew, it's called 'Bereshith,' meaning 'in the beginning.' The first book of the Jewish Torah, the first five books of what the Christians later came to call 'the Old Testament.' No doubt, Sarah is referring to Verses 7, 21 and 22 of Chapter Two of that particular book. Verse Seven goes like this: 'Then the Lord God formed Man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the Breath of Life; and Man became a living being.' Now Verse Twenty-one: 'So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the Man, and while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.' And the following verse: 'And the rib which the Lord God had taken from the Man He made into a Woman and brought her to the Man.'"

Hearing that, many began to laugh while many others still looked baffled. "Well, putting it THAT way, I can see why it would be useless!" Hermione noted.

"I don't!" Draco stated.

Hermione stared at him. "Draco, mud is formed when you take dust - which comes from the soil - and you add water to it. Therefore, according to the belief of every normal-born who saw or see themselves as Christians - even if they never went to church - that insult Sally-Anne just said means NOTHING at all!"

"In Christian belief, Draco, EVERYONE - regardless if you're magical or not - are descent from Adam and Eve; the man and the woman I just spoke of," Chikage added. "This means that when you address a normal-born like Sarah with that word, you're being the biggest hypocrite in the world. In her eyes, you are no different."

Draco jolted. "I'm not a mudblood!"

Chikage remained calm. "Draco, did I just say that?"

"I'm not!"

"Drake, she never called you that!" Pansy said.

"I'm not!"

Everyone watched as he turned back to his breakfast. "So how is it you still became friends with this girl even if her mom calls you that?" Brianna asked.

Sally-Anne giggled. "After I got my letter and Professor Sprout came to the house to convince my parents that I was magical, I made Dad take me back to where I first met Libera and her family. Turns out the girls were there again with their mom doing what they did when I first saw them." She smiled. "Libera and her sisters were really envious that I got a letter. But when Aunt Ceres began muttering about how 'mudbloods' were destroying wizarding society, I remembered what Mom told me after Professor Sprout warned me about that word. So I told Aunt Ceres, 'How can I be a mudblood and you can't? We're all God's Children, so we're ALL mudbloods!'"

As Draco glared at the blonde Hufflepuff and many of the other magically-raised children gaped, Sally-Anne laughed. "When I said that, Aunt Ceres got this totally goofy look on her face . . . " - She tilted her head to the left and shifted her jaw slightly as she made her eyes go wide, which made almost EVERYONE at the table laugh - " . . . and Libera and her sisters looked at me like I was Santa Claus giving them an early Christmas present!" She sipped her juice. "She even gave me my first kiss."

"She fancies you?" Chikage asked.

"Well, I don't really know," Sally-Anne admitted. "I mean, I don't really think of myself as a lesbian. I like boys, too! Especially all the handsome ones here!" As every boy within hearing range suddenly found themselves blushing, she then shrugged. "I guess Libera and Juno, Vesta, Bellona and Fauna - they're the other sisters - just liked the idea of meeting someone who's a witch and could be accepted by people in a society that rejected their ancestors when they all became non-magical. It's sad."

"It is that," Chikage noted as she gazed at Harry.

He noted that, and then he nodded.

Once he was out of Potions and enjoying a two-period break between that class and his first real class in History of Magic, he'd be writing letters . . .

* * *

_Friday 6 September 1991  
William J. Bone,  
The Tower on the Ridge,  
Osborne's Dyke  
Dear Uncle Bill,  
I hope this letter finds you and Aunt Connie well. How's Hank doing?  
I just learned from a normal-born schoolmate of mine (Sarah Annette Perks, from Ross-on-Wye) that there may be a magical village hidden in the Forest of Dean near a village called The Pludds. It's called Rhosan Green. I don't recall if this would concern you or Aunt Matilda, so I'm writing a letter to her about this, too.  
Just before she got her Hogwarts invite, Sally-Anne (that's what Sarah likes to be called by her friends) encountered non-magical descendants of the Most Noble Magical House of Meretrice of Wye doing a traditional ceremony close to their village. After she got her invite, Sally-Anne had further encounters with this family.  
I don't recall overhearing either you or Aunt Matilda talking about this village when you meet the Queen, so I just wanted to make sure all was well with them.  
Hope everything is okay there.  
Yours truly,  
Harry Potter_

* * *

_Friday 6 September 1991  
E. Matilda Godwine,  
The Chedworth Tower,  
Glevum Coliseum  
Dear Aunt Matilda,  
I hope this letter finds you and Aunt Mariah well.  
I just learned from a normal-born schoolmate of mine (Sarah Annette Perks, from Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire) that there may be a magical village hidden in the Forest of Dean near a village called The Pludds. It's called Rhosan Green. I don't recall if this would concern you or Uncle Bill, so I'm writing a letter to him about this, too.  
Just before she got her Hogwarts invite, Sally-Anne (that's what Sarah likes to be called by her friends) encountered non-magical descendants of the Most Noble Magical House of Meretrice of Wye doing a traditional ceremony close to their village. After she got her invite, Sally-Anne had further encounters with this family.  
I don't recall overhearing either you or Uncle Bill talking about this village when you meet the Queen, so I just wanted to make sure all was well with them.  
Hope everything is okay there.  
Yours truly,  
Harry Potter_

* * *

The Vanished Wing, early part of first afternoon period . . .

"So you wrote both of them just in case?"

"Yeah, I did," Harry said as he allowed Chikage to fasten the aikidō gi top in place with a white obi belt. "How did Uncle Erlking get all the stuff so fast?"

The traveller chuckled. "Harry, even in my universe, the ways of the Noble Tribe remains a mystery to most magicals," she advised. "Just pay gold and let them do the work you request of them and you'll be more than satisfied with the results."

"Yeah," he mused as he gazed into the southeast classroom.

"We're ready!"

Chikage turned as Achelois and Camellia walked out of the southwest classroom, they escorting Pansy, Tracey, Daphne and Millicent. All of them - as well as Harry's other friends - were now dressed in simple white aikidō gi with black hakama trousers over the lower parts of their bodies. "Looks good," she mused as she faces the four newcomers to their group. "Do the uniforms feel alright to you girls?"

"They feel great!" Daphne said, an excited look on her face. "Is this ACTUALLY what an aikidō artist wears? Like Steven Seagal?"

A nod. "Yes, this is exactly like what _Seagal-sensei_ would have worn when he was still just a student at the art and not a master by the time you saw him in _Above The Law_. And by the way, a practitioner of the Art always uses the proper Japanese term to describe what they are: '_aikidō-ka_,'" As the four Slytherin girls nodded on hearing that, Chikage looked at everyone. "Alright. We've had at least three periods with Professor Quirrell. What are your opinions of the man?"

"He's useless," Jane stated. "Uncle Hero can teach way better!"

"Uncle Moony can teach better! He got his Mastery in D.A.D.A.!" Harry spat.

"I think we can all say that!" Pansy growled. "How the hell are we going to be able to defend ourselves against Riddle with THAT type of teaching?"

"WHAT teaching?" Achelois snarled.

"No teaching at all, from what I could see," Aesup snorted, crossing her arms.

"Agreed," Chikage said. "Which is the reason we're going to form our own little 'defence club' where we will explore all the ways by which we can stay alive. After all, the best way to avoid the Killing Curse - for example - is to NOT be hit!"

"What about this thing your grandpa made?" Millicent asked.

"The _Kokujun_?" the traveller wondered. As Millicent nodded, Chikage sighed. "To my knowledge, it's never been tested before and I don't fancy myself being the first one to try something like that out!" As everyone else nodded, Chikage took a deep breath. "So let's think of other ways of trying to keep ourselves alive and intact so that, when we finally get to our twilight years, we can look back on this time in our lives and pat ourselves on the back for being so smart in the first place."

"Yeah! Who says the 'Claws are the only smart ones in school?" Brianna noted.

Laughter echoed through the central hall. "Alright, let's begin." Chikage then beckoned everyone to the doorway of the southeast classroom, making them stop before they passed through the threshold. "Now, before we actually begin today's lesson, a quick lesson on etiquette when you enter and leave a dōjō. What's one thing everyone does when one enters or leaves a training hall? Anyone but Aesup? Marian?"

"You always bow," Marian answered.

"Excellent. The other rule. Tracey?"

"Never wear shoes or socks."

"Perfect. Pansy, Millicent, would you mind?"

Both girls perked, and then they moved to slip off their socks. "But the floors are _cold_ here!" the latter then said as they bundled the socks up and slipped it into their trouser pockets underneath the hakama through the slits in their sides.

"Don't worry. The dōjō floor has a Korean _ondol_ heat-pipe system underneath the wood so you won't be cold." Chikage then pointed to the small depressed area just past the doorway. "This is the _genkan_, the entranceway to the dōjō proper itself. If you want, wear shoes or slippers to this point, then slip them off before you step onto the floor. Eventually, I'll introduce you all to how we wear shoes where I come from. Now, let's all practice a bow. Try not to lose your balance. _Rei!_"

Everyone bowed deeply, though Tracey nearly stumbled. "Keep your balance, Tracey. It's not that hard," Chikage said. "Straighten up." Everyone made themselves erect. "Now, let's try it one more time, then we'll go inside. _Rei!_"

Another bow, this time without anyone stumbling. "Excellent," Chikage bade as they relaxed. "Now, one at a time, walk into the dōjō and bow, then sit down on one of the cushions I laid out there before the head of the room. Aesup, go first."

The Korean witch walked in, stepped onto the floor, bowed deeply, and then headed over to one of the floor mats laid out before a small shrine at the head of the room. "Perfect. Now, each of you, do it also," Chikage bade.

Everyone else filed in, bowed, and then made their way to sit down at the places Chikage set out for them. All of the non-Orientals were quick to sense the tender warmth of the floor as they made their way to their places. "Is this normal for Korea, Aesup?" Millicent wondered as she sat at the far left of the room facing the front.

"_Ne._ Instead of fireplaces, space heaters or central heating, we use hot steam through pipes under the floor to warm a room up," Aesup said as Chikage took her place at the head of the room. She then focused on the picture behind the traveller, and then her jaw dropped. "Oh, _Hwanggung-nim!_ Chikage, is that . . .?"

Chikage smiled. "Indeed he is." She then turned to gaze on the smiling bald Oriental man, appearing to be at the same age as Albus Dumbledore, in the picture at the head of the room. "_Ō-Sensei_, would you please introduce yourself?"

A chuckle as everyone gaped. "Indeed I will, _Hirosaki-san_," the man said in accented English. "_Konnichi wa, minna-san._ I am - or I WAS when I was still alive - Morihei Ueshiba. It is my humble adoption of aikijū-jitsu - what I later came to call 'aikidō' - that _Hirosaki-san_ will now teach unto all of you."

Hermione smiled as she bowed to him. "_Konnichi wa, Ō-sensei_," she said.

He acknowledged that bow with a bow of his head. "Um, forgive me, sir, but were you a wizard?" Daphne then asked as she stared wide-eyed at him.

"No, _Greengrass-san_, I was not," Ueshiba replied. "However - and _Hirosaki-san_ confirms this is true with the Japan in her universe - a larger ratio of normals living in my homeland (and such is also true where young _Mun-san_ hails from as well) are aware of those gifted to weld magic as would be found in your beautiful land in the West. Many magicals in Japan often came to me to study what I could teach them - and do so to this day with my children, grandchildren and other successors - so they could better adopt their bodies to use the gift of magic the Kami gave you all. And I was honoured to teach them; they were all eager students in the Way and I understood their passionate desire to keep matters secret from others concerning those gifts."

"The way I always heard it, most muggles would burn us at the stake if they found out we were magical," Millicent stated. "That's why we hide ourselves."

A sad nod. "_Hai, Bulstrode-san._ Such rhabdophobia was also present amongst many in my land as well. But fortunately, the Heavenly Sovereign and His Shōgun made sure that such people were protected by the samurai of the land before laws were established and His Imperial Majesty created the position of Mahō-Shōgun, the Supreme General of Magic. Which eventually became His Imperial Majesty's Minister for Magic when the position of Shōgun was done away with in the time of the Meiji Emperor."

"We'll be learning this in Mom's second year class," Jane warned.

Laughter filled the room. "Well, at least some cultures don't mind what muggles teach them," Pansy stated. "The way most wizards act, muggles are worse than dirt!"

"Sally-Anne's mom sure proved THAT wrong!" Daphne noted.

More laughter. "Well, now that we've met _Ō-Sensei_, let's begin with a basic lesson in etiquette when you're actually INSIDE the dōjō," Chikage stated . . .

* * *

The Great Hall, suppertime . . .

"That is one impressive broom you've got there, Draco!" Harry noted.

"Thanks, Harry!" Draco said with a grin as he showed the Gryffindor his new Nimbus 2000 broom. "This should last me just a year or so; by that time, Nimbus is going to come out with the 2001 model! Vince and Greg got the same type, too."

"So when are the tryouts for your house?" Harry asked.

"Next weekend," Draco replied as everyone sat at the end of the Slytherin table to sit down and eat. "Why?" he then wondered as he gave Harry a wary look. "Gonna spy on us, Harry?" He wagged his finger in a "no-no" gesture. "Not a chance."

Harry laughed as food appeared before them. "No, not me. Ron's still after me to join the team, but the instant that gets to Rose, I'm dead come Christmastime."

"You're lucky you've got a sister that cares for you that much," Blaise noted.

"Don't you have any siblings, Blaise?" Chikage asked.

"No, only child," Blaise noted. "Mother wanted to have more children, but never really got the chance after she married again." A sigh. "And again and again."

"It's real bad luck, Blaise," Draco noted.

"Yeah, it is," Blaise noted with a light smile. "I envy you two," he said as he gazed on Draco, and then on Harry before gazing on Vincent and Gregory. "And both of you as well. It must have been really nice to have sisters. And a cousin, too!" he then added as he indicated Draco. "I'd give a lot for that."

"Did anyone ever discover the reason why?" Achelois wondered.

A shake of the head. "No," the dark-skinned boy stated. "It hurt Mother a lot whenever something happened to the men she married. I'm probably the only wizard in all of the United Kingdom who could claim he had _six_ fathers."

"That's awful!" Hermione breathed out.

"What did you expect, Hermione? His mom kills them all!"

Silence.

Blaise turned to glare murder at Ron Weasley. "_**What - did - you - just - say?**_" the dark-skinned boy demanded in a voice that promised pain.

"RON!" Harry and Hermione snapped together.

"Oh, Merlin! Here we go again," Brianna muttered under her breath.

"It's what everyone else says about your mom!" Ron snapped. "She marries rich wizards just to kill them so she could inherit their . . .!"

His mouth then flapped open and closed with no noise coming out of it. "That is more than enough out of you, Mister Weasley," a cold and icy voice declared as people watched Severus Snape come up to him. "Fifty points from Gryffindor for such slander against Mister Zabini's mother. AND a week of detention with Mister Filch."

Hermione sighed. "Professor, I must . . . "

"Enough, Miss Granger!" Severus stated as he stared at her, and then looked at Harry. "You as well, Mister Potter. There's no need to apologise for Mister Weasley's words. You two, at least, exemplify the most positive traits of your house: Honour, chivalry and courage to stand up for your convictions as they apply to others as well as yourselves." He then glared at Ron. "Mister Weasley, however, gladly adheres to the negative side of those very traits: Selfishness, arrogance and an unwillingness to see the world beyond the basic division of black-and-white. Now, Mister Weasley, you will head to your table and kindly not darken the presence of my charges again."

Ron sputtered before he marched off, his feet stomping loudly on the floor as he went. Everyone nodded politely as Severus headed to the head table. With that, people relaxed. "Now THAT, I will admit, is a real mudbrain," Aesup then noted.

Draco stared at her. "You'd call HIM a mudbrain?"

"Of course I would," the Korean asserted as she stared intently at him. "I call you that because you deliberately blind yourself - or your parents blind you; I don't know which way it is! - from a lot of things! But at least you, Draco, have got the smarts to open your eyes up and see things as they really are. And you're in the right house to learn how to do just that!" She nodded towards Ron, who was at the Gryffindor table stuffing his face. "That _pabo_, on the other hand, is too damned LAZY to see what he's doing to himself because he's NOT been trained to use his brains!"

"No doubt because of his mother."

Eyes locked on Harry. "How do you know that, Harry?" Daphne asked.

"I talked to his oldest brother Bill on Tuesday night," Harry said. "He works at Gringotts as a curse breaker; he was here with the team Grand-uncle Ragnok sent up here to deal with what that tsidoki did with Professor Binns. He told me that his mother can't stand the idea of people interacting between houses like we're doing. She's the one that's actually forcing Ron to try to be my friend. And atop of that, there's her daughter Ginny to worry about, too. She'll be here next year."

"She's a 'Boy-Who-Lived Groupie,' you mean," Blaise said.

"Yeah," Harry said with a drawl in his voice. "She believes all those moronic books everyone wrote about me and what happened ten years ago when my parents were killed. She even wants to be my wife! And her mother's encouraging it, too!"

Silence.

"Harry, that could be seen as line-theft," Theodore warned.

"Harry is protected."

Eyes locked on Chikage. "How?" Draco demanded. "In case you didn't notice, Chikage, Harry's an orphan. Atop that, he's now the head of his house, which is part of the top tier of the Wizengamot. He's a sitting target for any witch that wants him! And that doesn't begin to speak about what could happen to Rose, too!"

"A pity that the day he - and she - swore a Loyal Oath to the Crown, every marriage law passed by the Wizengamot and every marriage decree issued by the Ministers for Magic all got flushed down the nearest toilet," Chikage then said.

More silence.

"You're kidding me!" Pansy gasped.

"It's true," the traveller said. "It's a lucky thing Jane's mother is now teaching us history and plans to teach us everything about the Separation Act in spring. If it was still Professor Binns, you would probably NEVER learn this." She sipped her tea before she sat back in her chair. "Get yourself a copy of the _Legis Magicus_ and read it over from front to back, everyone. Especially the Separation Act and all the other acts considered directly tied to the Separation Act as part of the Magical Constitution of the United Kingdom. You'll be amazed by you'll learn."

Draco nodded. "We'll keep it in mind."

* * *

The Gryffindor dorms, later . . .

"Harry! How could you just sit there and not say a thing?"

"What in Fate's name was I supposed to say?" Harry demanded as he turned from looking out the window to glare at Ron. All of the first year boys were now relaxing in his and Neville's bedroom space. "That I was to act as if what you said to Blaise had no relevance? How could you accuse Aunt Vanessa of that? You don't know her!"

"I know her enough!" Ron snapped.

"How?" Neville demanded. "Have you ever met her?"

"No! But Mom and Dad heard about all that . . .!"

"And WHERE did THEY hear that?" Harry asked. "Did they ever meet her?"

Ron shrugged. "I don't know!"

"So how could you just come out and say that?" Before Ron could answer, Harry turned to Dean. "Dean, you lost your dad during the war, right?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, I did. Or at least I _think_ I did. Mom never found out what happened to him. Heck, she never learned he was a wizard before their last night together." A sad sigh. "Heck, I don't even know his real name. I guess if it was Tom Riddle's people who killed him, it would've been smart for him to keep it quiet."

"So how would you feel if someone came around and accused your mom of murdering your dad?" Harry then wondered as he crossed his arms.

Dean blinked. "Pretty angry. Mom holds Dad's memory pretty high. Even if I've got a stepdad now - he's a taxi driver; he's really great - and got two half-brothers and two half-sisters now, Mom still loves Dad." He then smiled. "Actually, part of the reason I wanted to come here to Hogwarts was to find some way to find out all about him so that Mom would understand what happened to him and why."

"I'll help you with that."

Silence.

"Why?" Dean said as he stared at Harry.

"Because you and she deserve closure over what happened to your father." Harry then sighed; he had returned to gazing out the window. "You guys want to know what it was like for me growing up?" he then asked before picking up his tea cup to sip from it. "Both before and after I left Little Whinging to go live with my sister?"

"What happened?" Seamus asked.

"Before Rose came, I was practically a house elf to Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley," Harry said as he indicated the picture of his mother's relatives on the nightstand. "I was kept in the cupboard under the stairs because I was too 'freakish' to be allowed a 'normal' bedroom. I did all the chores in the place: The cooking, the cleaning, the lawn and garden, everything!" He sighed, ignoring the shocked looks from the others in the room. "Yet despite how they treated me - and we never knew about Dad's prank, by the way! - they loved each other. They were human beings underneath it all. And even if I found it hard to care for them, I could still respect them. And I found it within me to forgive them when Rose came and we were freed of what Dad did."

"I read about that in the _Prophet_ when you vanished," Neville said. "Your uncle's a pretty brave guy. Grandmother really admired that letter he wrote."

"I'll tell him that when I write him next," Harry said. "So I go off to where Rose and I live now. I learn all the things about being a wizard. I got to meet centaurs, goblins, house elves, giants, vampires and even natives of the _Mundus Magicus_. I also reunited with my dad's best friend, who happens to be a werewolf. Atop that, my sister's godmother is also a werewolf. And all of them are good people. Yeah, we've got our differences, but at least we RESPECT that those differences are there!" He then turned to glare at Ron. "And now here YOU are trying to make me be something that makes me feel like I've got a whole nest of acromatulas crawling inside me!" Seeing Ron pale on mentioning those creatures, Harry then waved at him. "At your mother's prompting, by the way! Well, I'm sorry, Ron, but I'm not going to do it for you! Or your mom or your sister for that matter! If she cared so much for me, then where the hell WAS she when my family and I happened to need her?"

Ron growled as his fists clenched, and then he moved to lunge at Harry . . .

. . . only to have the point of Harry's wand pointed right at the bridge of his nose. "You better be warned of this, Ron," Harry said in a voice that made the other boys shiver and Ron gulp in shock. "I've been practicing with a wand since I was SIX. And I've been trained by two Dark Arts Defence _Masters_ in using it! Are you going to try your luck with me?" He then smiled. "You're lucky Rose didn't see you try for it. She would have gone straight for a few _Reducto_s to sever your arms and legs! And she would do it with a smile on her face, too! She LOVES the idea that she can sleep better at nights knowing she can hex the crap out of almost everyone she meets! And so do I, by the way!" He then lowered his wand. "So when you decide to stop listening to your mother and start being your own man, _then_ you can be my friend!"

Ron shuddered, and then he stormed out of the bedroom before stopping and looking back. "I'm trying to save you from going Dark, Harry!" he snapped.

With that, he was gone. Harry lowered his wand. "Who are you to judge that, Ron?" he wondered before turning back to sit down on his bed and sip his tea.

"You're pretty fast with that wand, Harry," Seamus noted.

"Didn't you hear him?" Dean wondered. "Trained since he was six, remember?"

Neville and Seamus blinked, nodding. "Good point," the former said.

"So what's Ron's big problem anyway?" the latter wondered.

A sigh. "He comes from a family with a way-too overbearing mom," Harry said. "On the one hand, I can probably understand that. She lost her whole family thanks to the Dark Moron. But on the other hand . . . " He shook his head. "Mama and the other elves that raised Rose and me cared, but they never overdid it. Even Uncle Moony, Aunt Nancy and all the others knew not to overdo it. Yet . . . " He shook his head. "I hope that Blaise and Draco aren't right and she's not trying to pull something on me."

"Like what?" Neville asked, tensing.

"Like trying to force her daughter to marry me?"

Silence.

"Why are you so worried about that?" Dean asked.

Harry shrugged. "Orphaned head of a Noble and Most Ancient Magical House here, remember?" he said as he held up his House Ring.

Neville nodded. "Yeah, that'd do it."

"What do you mean?" Dean wondered.

"In our world, it's called 'line-theft,' Dean," Neville stated. "Most witches - and their parents - would look at Harry and see him as the perfect catch for an unwed daughter. And don't get me started with what could happen to Rose when people realise she's also eligible. They're of the highest rank of our society; you remember Chikage calling him 'Marquess Potter' when she tore apart that tsidoki?" As Dean and Seamus nodded, Neville took a deep breath. "Atop that, the Potters are also wealthy. I've heard the Weasleys fell on hard times during the war with You-Know-Who. They - and the Prewetts, which is the family Ron's mother comes from - were once pretty high up in our society. Getting Ginny - that's Ron's sister - married to Harry . . . "

"A family of gold-diggers, you mean?" Seamus asked.

"No, not the whole family," Harry said. "From what I've heard, Ron's dad Arthur works really hard at what he does. Bill - that's Ron's oldest brother - is one hell of a good worker for Gringotts; that's what Grand-uncle Ragnok and Uncle Erlking have said about him. And Percy and the twins are pretty okay, too." A shrug. "Heck, Ron's pretty okay, too, if he can just quit looking at people like Achelois and Camellia like they were the enemy! How can he ask me to do that?" he wondered as he threw up his hands. "Achelois and Jane are my two oldest friends! You're gonna ask me to turn my back on them because Achelois is in Slytherin and Jane's in Hufflepuff? Get real!"

"Yeah, I can't understand that either," Dean noted. "I mean, I can understand dividing the school into houses; it's the way private schools work! But to think that just because they went into another house, they're evil? That's stupid!"

"And that's what made what Riddle did possible," Harry noted.

The others looked at him. "You think he's still out there?" Seamus asked.

"I KNOW he's still out there," Harry noted as he pointed to his left forearm. "If the berk was really dead, Seamus, the Dark Mark on the arms of all his followers would be totally gone. It's not. Look what happened to those three Death Munchers who've been killed and crucified in Knockturn since he went down thanks to Mom."

The other boys all gaped at him. "So that's why you've been training so much!" Neville then said. "You're preparing for when Riddle comes back, right?"

Harry closed his eyes. "Yeah."

"Think you can take him out?" Dean wondered.

A sigh. "Hard to say," Harry admitted. "He's got a thirty-five year head-start on me when it comes to magical knowledge. And I don't know spit about what happened to him after he graduated from this place to when he started up his little club of thugs so he could start killing everyone in sight." He closed his eyes. "But if I can do it, I'll do it. But not for people like Ron or anyone else who thinks of me as their 'boy-who-lived.' It's personal. It's for me, my parents and my sister. That's it."

The other boys considered that, and then they nodded. "In a way, you got a right to feel that way," Neville said. "I feel the same way about the bastards that put my parents in Saint Mungo's and almost made my sister Grace a squib. If I have to fight them - IF they escape from Azkaban, that is! - that's why I'll fight them." He closed his eyes. "Even if I am a pureblood, there are things about this society of mine that I really think should be dumped into the ocean and fed to a kraken!"

"So what do normal guys like us do?" Seamus asked.

"Learn everything you can and hope for the best," Harry advised as he sipped his tea. "But be prepared for the worst, too. It ain't over yet, you know."

The others nodded . . .

* * *

The Vanished Wing, Saturday 7 September . . .

"Hey! There you are!"

Harry looked up from the cauldron, and then he smiled. "Hey, Pansy!" He then perked on seeing she wasn't alone. "You must be Mike! How do you do?"

"Hey, Harry!" Michael Parkinson - that was actually his middle name, which he preferred over his first name, Matthew - said as he shook the offered hand. He was a second year in Ravenclaw, a quite handsome young man that was starting to experience the wonders puberty normally breathed into boys his age. "Good to meet you!" He then perked on seeing what he was doing. "So what are you making here, anyway?"

"A calming draught," Harry said as he turned back to watch the potion.

The Parkinson siblings both gaped at him. "A calming draught?" Michael exclaimed. "Harry, that's NEWT-level stuff! I thought Pansy said . . .!" He then stopped as he and Pansy exchanged a surprised look, and then they grinned as they stared at him, noting the impish look on his face. "Oh, you sly bugger, you! Why the hell did you get sorted into Gryffindor? You deserve to be in Ravenclaw . . .!"

"Or Slytherin for that matter!" Pansy added.

Harry laughed. "Well, when Sir Alastair - that's the Sorting Hat's real name, by the way - sorted me, he told me that I had a perfect mix of the things all of the Founders looked for in a student." He then shrugged. "Since there's no house to take in people who could fit in multiple houses, I had a choice to make." A sigh. "I could have chosen Slytherin since Uncle Severus was the head-of-house there and he's been teaching me both potions and defence since I got together with Rose five years ago." As Michael and Pansy both gaped at him, he shrugged. "But that would've had me butting heads with Draco and his friends right away . . . and that's just the guys in our year. Who knows what the seniors in that place would have done to me. I could have chosen Ravenclaw." He waved to Michael in emphasis. "But Hermione fitted more in Ravenclaw than I would and Sir Alastair put her in Gryffindor. So it was a toss-up."

"Between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. And everyone expected you to go into Gryffindor," Michael finished for the younger boy, nodding in understanding.

"Uncle Severus has been teaching you for FIVE years?" Pansy demanded. "Harry, you BETTER be careful in saying that! If it wasn't us . . .!"

"Pansy, why ELSE do you think I couldn't go to Slytherin?"

She stopped, and then laughed. "Ten points to Gryffindor."

Harry then made a dramatic bow. "On behalf of Gryffindor, I accept your judgement on the matter and the points awarded, Professor Parkinson."

More laughter. "The thing I don't understand is Chikage!" Michael said. "Why the hell is she in Hufflepuff? I've seen her this whole week and she . . . "

"My family, Michael, and how I view myself."

Everyone turned as the traveller stepped inside. "Your family?" Pansy asked.

Chikage smiled as she took a seat in one of the empty desks close to where the others were. "My love and loyalty to my family, especially my half-brother," she explained. "Sir Alastair found me to be as much in balance when it comes to the traits all the Founders desired in their students as he did Harry. But in my case, there was one strong attribute that saw me become a Hufflepuff in lieu of a Ravenclaw."

"That must be some feeling of love," Michael noted.

"And it is deeply based in one of my most cherished beliefs," Chikage stated. "I am what is called in my universe a 'reincarnationist.' In other words, I believe - and have strong metaphysical proof - that I have lived in previous lifetimes before my current life. I understand that's not an accepted philosophy amongst your people."

The Parkinson siblings nodded. "Once you die, you ascend to what you see as Heaven," Pansy noted. "Avalon in our case as we adhere to the old Celtic beliefs. Or the Christian versions of Heaven for people like Hermione and Sally-Anne."

"And I can accept that. But in my universe, my Earth had an encounter in 1984 with a race who call themselves the Sagussans," Chikage stated. "Each and every one of them possesses this ability to view in their mind an energy field they called 'Te'a,' which in English would translate as 'That Which Is Above mortal understanding.'"

"The power of God, you mean," Michael noted.

A nod. "Roughly the same idea. It actually matches more with the concepts of Shintō which state that all physical things have divine - and by extension magical - power within them," Chikage noted. "The Sagussans put it this way: 'From the Te'a, your soul emerges when you are born; to the Te'a, your soul returns when you die.'" She smiled. "And then there's what George Patton wrote after the First World War:

_So as through a glass, and darkly  
The age long strife I see;  
Where I fought in many guises,  
Many names, but always me._

_And I see not in my blindness  
What the objects were I wrought,  
But as God rules o'er our bickerings,  
It was through His Will I fought._

_So forever in the future,  
Shall I battle as of yore,  
Dying to be born a fighter,  
But to die again, once more._

"That's beautiful," Pansy whispered, her eyes misting.

"Indeed it is," Chikage said. "A pity General Patton was born a normal; he would have fit VERY well in this society." As Pansy tittered and Michael laughed, she sighed. "In many of my past lives, there was always HIM at my side. My lover, my husband, my guiding star, my obsession and my destiny." She closed her eyes as a wry smile crossed her face. "But in this life, he is my half-brother, Wataru Minakami. And it was _that_ which Sir Alastair locked on when he chose Hufflepuff, Michael."

"Well, we could understand that. Family's always important." Michael then sighed. "A pity too many people didn't realise that when Riddle was here."

"How are people reacting to that?" Chikage asked.

Michael sighed. "Well, in Ravenclaw, there are just too many people who are plain relieved that we don't have to solely concentrate on goblin rebellions these days so we can learn REAL history," he noted. "There are some in my house who, I think, might have had parents or relatives who fought for the man ten years ago. They just can't accept the very idea that the man who was the icon of pureblood supremacy is a half-blood! That he could have LIED about that to everyone who was willing to fight and die for him! Others - mostly the muggleborns, the half-bloods and the purebloods that don't care about that nonsense - are just shaking their heads and trying to hold back the laughter they feel when they hear others whisper about it."

"What about your house, Pansy?" Harry asked as he moved to gently stir his draught. "I know you, Daphne, Tracey and Millie don't really care about that sort of garbage - not to mention Achelois and Camellia - but what about the guys like Draco and all his friends, much less the older years?"

"Probably the same as what's going on in Mike's house," Pansy noted. "But it's more profound for a lot of the older years. Slytherin DOES have a reputation of growing people who gladly jump in and support a revolution when one's wished for, after all." She then walked over to gaze out a window onto the lawn beyond the main wall line of the castle. "How did that old toast go again, Mike? 'Here's to bloody wars and sickly seasons' or something like that?" A snort. "Give us an idea and if we believe it's the best one available to us, we jump on it . . . " She then sneered. "Even if it was one Master Salazar himself would hate! People twisted what he said all those years ago when it came to admitting students here! Don't limit them to just purebloods! Just make damn sure they're FULLY indoctrinated in wizarding society and wizarding traditions! How in Morganna's Name did that get so warped?"

"Because battles are written by the victors. Those who follow Godric's way - or say they do - wanted the man who 'betrayed' a long friendship to their spiritual lord to be shown in the most negative light possible," Chikage said. "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Twenty complete stirs clockwise, twenty counter-clockwise. Pay attention."

He jolted, and then he turned back to his draught as the Parkinson siblings laughed. "Ten points to Hufflepuff for watching out for your friend," Pansy noted.

More laughter. "I can agree to what you said, Pansy," a new voice then said.

"Hello, Hermione. How are things in the Lion's Den?" Chikage asked as Hermione walked into the room, dressed in her hakama and aikidō gi.

"Somewhat tense. Percy, Fred and George went after Ron for losing fifty points for saying what he said to Blaise," the normal-born said as she sat down at a desk close to Harry. "A lot of the people in all the years - once they learned what Ron actually said to Blaise - thought it was pretty crude. Still, it's hard to say anything when said person who got that insult is a Slytherin and it's practically seen as _verboten_ to say anything good about them if you're a Gryffindor." She shook her head. "It spells it out in _Hogwarts: A History_. Everything about what Headmaster Slytherin believed in and WHY he felt he had no choice but to leave the school! And even if Headmaster Gryffindor was hurt, he still respected his friend well enough to forgive him in the end. Why in God's Name can't people simply sit down and READ?"

"Because most people in this society of ours are lazy, Hermione."

Eyes locked on Michael. "And they wonder why Dark Lords always love to show up every once in a while? Like Tom Riddle and Gellert Grindelwald?" Hermione demanded, and then she moaned. "Oh, God! I wish I knew about Beauxbâtons before I got my invite to this place! I would've been better off THERE instead of HERE!"

"Don't blame you," Michael noted.

"HARRY?" a voice bellowed from the central hall. "Where are you?"

"In here, Aesup!" Harry called out.

Aesup peeked into the classroom. "Oh, thank the Fates!" the Korean witch said. "Did you get the howler that was sent out to you?"

Harry perked. "What howler? I ate early, then came here right away so I could make a calming draught!" He then muttered, "After last night, I NEEDED one!"

Aesup blinked. "You needed a calming draught? Why?"

He stared at her. "Ron."

She took that in, and then she sighed. "Right . . .!"

Hermione was trying to pick her jaw up from the floor. "You're making a calming draught? How in God's name are you able to do that? We don't . . .!"

"Harry."

Eyes turned as Severus walked inside, a red envelope in hand. Everyone was quick to see it wasn't smoking. "It came with the morning post and was left on the Gryffindor table by the owl - I believe it was the Weasley family owl, but I wasn't close enough to see it - that brought it here," the potions master stated as he held out the envelope for the younger man. "I deactivated it, then came here right away."

Harry blinked, and then he sighed as he reached over to take it.

"Harry."

He stopped, looking at Chikage. "Before you open it, make sure the potion is secure and stand away from it," the traveller then advised.

He blinked, and then turned the burner off before he placed a stasis charm over the cauldron. As the Parkinson siblings gaped at this, he then took the letter from Severus - who was nodding in approval at Chikage's move to keep things safe in the classroom - and walked over to one corner of the room before opening it. Hermione, Aesup and Pansy went over to look at it. A moment later, Harry sighed as the girls all flushed with rage. "I don't BELIEVE the bint!" Pansy snapped. "How DARE she? She's not Harry's guardian; Remus Lupin is! Why, I . . .!"

"This is unbelievable!" Hermione said with a shake of her head. "Who in God's name does she think she is? She's not related to Harry!"

"I guess that proves it."

Eyes locked on Aesup. "Proves what?" Michael asked.

"That Ron inherited his mudbrain-ness from his mother," Aesup stated.

Silence.

"Is that even a word?"

Eyes locked on Chikage, and then laughter filled the room. Harry then sighed as he showed the letter to Severus. "I can't let this pass, Uncle Severus."

The potions master took it and scanned through it before he shook his head. "Oh, Merlin! I don't BELIEVE this!" he breathed out before staring at Harry. "What do you have in mind?" he asked as Michael came over to read it.

"You KNOW how good Rose's howlers are," Harry said with a grin.

Severus blinked, and then he nodded, madly grinning. "Good point."

"May I offer an addition to that?"

Eyes locked on Chikage, who had a sly smile on her face . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	11. The Lightning Axe

Ottery Saint Catchpole, the Burrow, an hour later . . .

"Now, Molly . . .!"

"ENOUGH, Arthur!" Molly Weasley snapped as she paced around the kitchen. "It's bad enough that Harry was forced to be raised among those muggles and separated from his sister! It's even worse that when he reunited with his sister, he made friends with people who totally came out of NOWHERE! Who ARE these people? You read Ron's letter! Two Hufflepuffs - THREE with this Hirosaki girl! - and two SLYTHERINS! And he's making people sit at THEIR tables during the meals? I'm going to . . .!"

Both then jolted as a burst of flame exploded from a nearby window to reveal a golden-feathered bird carrying a smoking red letter in her beak. As the elder Weasleys watched, Lucy then landed on the table to one side of them, dropping the letter on the table before she glared at them. Then as they watched her, the phoenix raised her right wing to her eye and pulled down the skin under it as she stuck her tongue out and gave them both a raspberry. As Arthur and Molly gaped at her, Lucy then lifted into the air and soared towards the window, vanishing in a sea of flame . . .

Just as the letter snapped open . . .

* * *

Outside . . .

"Did you just feel that, Father?"

Xenophilius Lovegood perked on hearing his daughter's voice. "Feel what, my little crabapple?" he asked as he gazed on Luna.

"Why it . . .!"

Both then blinked as a titanic _**CRACK!**_ nearly deafened them both as their eyes suddenly locked on the image of the Burrow not too far away from the hedgerow bordering their own property. As both of them watched with twins looks of surprise on their faces, the whole of their neighbour's home seemed to shake violently as windows exploded outward and the front door disintegrated in a flash as a voice that was megaphoned to a level that neither thought was possible - even from one Rose Jamie Potter - boomed like some angry sea god over the plains of east Devon.

"_**WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU SAY THOSE THINGS TO MY BROTHER . . .?**_"

As the Lovegoods listened to that shrieking voice - which was enough to rattle their ears many metres away from the epicentre of that Mother of All Howlers - both remained quite calm. Which was quite different from the others who were close by. All of whom were now gaping at the direction of the Burrow as they heard that screaming voice yell out things that had most adults gasping in shock and disbelief and the few children there all looking up to their parents and guardians wondering what was going on and who on Earth could be so MAD as to yell at the Weasleys like that!

" . . . appears to be Rose ranting at Ginevra's parents," Luna then finished.

Xenophilius nodded. "I wonder what got her so upset."

"I could floo-call her and ask," Luna offered.

Another nod. "It would be the proper thing to do."

Both then nodded as they headed back to their own home . . .

* * *

"Oh, Merlin . . .!"

Watching this from the place where he apparated in so he could witness what was now happening at the Burrow, a snickering Severus Snape was trying desperately not to collapse and laugh himself straight into heart failure as he watched and listened to the _Kokujun_-enhanced howler that Rose had sent Arthur and Molly. As he ignored the people nearby, who were wondering what the hell was going on and who had the magic to make a howler like THAT, the potions master felt himself regretting not taking a sip of Harry's calming draught before he came down here from Hogwarts to watch the action.

_Albus is going to be BESIDE himself when he sees THIS in his pensive!_ he then mused as the booming echo of Rose's voice faded and the smoke finally settled.

And with that, he was gone back to Scotland . . .

* * *

The Great Hall, lunchtime . . .

"Oh, Merlin! I don't believe this!"

"Believe it," Harry said as he and his friends stood by the head table as Albus scanned through a copy of the letter Molly Weasley had sent to him. Also there at the head table was a fuming Minerva McGonagall, a neutral Severus Snape, a curious Draco Malfoy and his friends, plus three of the Weasley brothers, all of whom were shaking their heads in sorrow and shame. "If this thing would have gone off inside the Great Hall as this woman obviously planned it, Professor, I would have been embarrassed and humiliated enough to have had no choice but to demand satisfaction for this insult. And what would have happened to Ron in that particular case?"

Percy perked. "Harry, why on Earth would you be concerned about what happened to Ron? **You're** the one who's been offended here, not him!"

"Respectfully, Percy, it's because I'm concerned that once people heard your mother demand that I be friends with your brother and renounce those of my friends who are not Gryffindors, what respect they might have had for him would be flushed down the privy with next to no chance of recovery," Harry responded. As the Weasley siblings gaped at him and the others nodded in understanding, he added, "He'd be seen as someone who needs his mother to do _everything_ for him. Someone totally unworthy of respect. Much that I can't stand his attitudes, I don't want THAT to happen to him."

"As I stated last night, Albus. A Gryffindor in the true spirit of how people in Minerva's house should live their lives," Severus noted.

"Damn straight about that!" Draco said as he nodded in approval.

Others nodded as well. "I am forced to agree with Severus on this," Minerva stated. "But what the devil do we do now with Molly? She's not going to . . .!"

Albus then tensed. "Oh, dear . . . "

"What?" the transfiguration mistress demanded.

A sigh. "Molly, Arthur and Ginevra are here."

Moans escaped Percy, Fred and George as the others at the head table all gaped in disbelief. "Harry, mate . . .!" the younger twin began.

"Don't apologise," Harry said. "Because I can sense Lucy coming."

"With Rose."

Eyes locked on Chikage . . .

. . . just as an explosion of flame by the main doors of the Great Hall then heralded the arrival of a pretty phoenix carrying a very cute red-haired girl of nine, currently dressed in rather flattering clothes for her age, a black hooded cloak - one without the insignia of Her Majesty's Magical Shire Reeve and Magistrate Magical of the Loyal County of Somerset, those who knew THAT secret realised - draped around her. As people turned to gape at her, Cedric Diggory bolted up. "That's Harry's sister!"

The eyes of EVERYONE in the room all snapped around to stare at the cute redhead with the glasses as some of the prepared ones immediately whipped out cameras to snap pictures. Rose ignored them as she glanced around the room, and then smiled as she headed over to join everyone at the head table, Lucy calmly riding her shoulder as people gaped at them. "Big brother!" she called out, waving her hand.

Harry smiled as he drew her into his arms while Lucy fluttered off to perch herself on Chikage's shoulder. Seeing this, everyone all crooned in awe and envy as they watched this Kodak moment. "Good afternoon, Rose," Albus then said, his eyes twinkling madly as he gazed on the young woman. "What on Earth brings you here to Hogwarts? You're not scheduled to come here for two years, remember?"

"Oh, I know that, Grandpapa," Rose said as she pulled away from Harry. "But Lucy there told me that after I dropped a howler on that woman who said all those nasty things to Harry that she was going to come up here to yell at him because I yelled at her for being such a nosy busy-body, thinking she's Mama and all that!"

Silence.

"You mean to say . . . "

" . . . that you sent a howler . . . "

" . . . to our own mother?"

Rose stared at Fred and George. "How do you guys do that?" she asked.

"Do what?" the twins asked together, grinning madly.

"Please forgive them, Miss Potter," Percy then noted. "They've been talking like that for as long as we all can remember. You just need to get used to it."

Rose stared at him, and then looked at Harry. "He's too big to be Ron!"

"That's Percy," Harry supplied.

"Oh, the nice one!"

Percy blushed as Harry smiled. "You could say that . . .!"

The Great Hall's doors then exploded inward. "_**ALBUS!**_"

Everyone snapped over to the main doors as a huffing - and quite badly hurt, the sharper eyed people in the room were quick to see - Molly Weasley marched in, a still-stunned Arthur beside her holding a frightened girl of ten hugging his leg and a slack-jawed Ron to Molly's other side, staring in wide-eyed shock at how badly banged up his mother was. Albus sighed. "Molly, Arthur, Ginevra, it is good to see you, but is it necessary to interrupt everyone's meal barging in like this?" he clearly asked.

"_**QUIET!**_" Molly screamed out as she stormed into the Great Hall. "_**WHERE IS SHE? WHERE IS THAT BRAT THAT NEARLY DESTROYED MY HOUSE? WHERE IS SHE?**_"

Albus then turned to Rose. "Rose, did you send Molly a howler?"

Everyone close to the head table all broke out in laugher. "No, Grandpapa, I didn't send her a howler," Rose answered. She then grinned nastily as she reached under her cloak to draw out her Korean pine-and-phoenix feather wand. "I sent her the Mother of All Howlers!" she then snarled before aiming her wand at Molly.

"_Kenótētost A'strápsatō dè Teméntō! __**DÍOST TÚKOST!**_"

Everyone then gaped as a blast of LIGHTNING came out of nowhere above Rose's head to impact the end of her wand, and then lash out to slam into Molly's chest, roasting her whole body as she was flung back ten metres by the impact! As Arthur, Ron and Ginny all gaped in shock and everyone else all stared in disbelief at what the Girl-Who-Lived just did, Rose then lowered her wand, a satisfied smile on her face. "Sorry for the mess, Grandpapa!" she then said as she gazed sweetly at Albus.

"Rose."

She blinked and turned to stare at Chikage. "What is it?"

Everyone then gulped on seeing the hooded look on the traveller's face as she stared down at the younger woman. Lumps then appeared in the throats of many watching this as they observed Chikage gaze intently at Rose, who now looked VERY scared. Even Lucy seemed quite afraid as she gazed warily at the woman from another Earth.

"You forgot the activation keyword."

Everyone's jaw dropped and many people in the Great Hall all staggered, they staring in shock at Chikage. Rose blinked, and then she laughed. "Whoops! Sorry!"

"Don't say you're sorry. Just make sure that when Elaine teaches you more spells from the _Mundus Magicus_ in the future, you use an activation key."

"Okay!"

"_**WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME **_**WAS**_** THAT, ANYWAY?**_"

Eyes locked on a gaping Filius Flitwick . . .

* * *

Later . . .

"So this woman from the _Mundus Magicus_ - who has actually been living HERE amongst us for nearly a decade - is teaching you their type of magic?"

Rose nodded as she gazed up at Percy. People had moved themselves to the Charms classroom in the academic wing as a madly-grinning Filius Flitwick busied himself - with help from Septima Vector and Severus Snape - with arithmantic calculations as they talked about how such a spell was possible. Harry sat beside his sister, his arm wrapped around her waist. Lucy was perched on the back of Rose's chair. Chikage was nearby, her PADD out - seeing THAT had caused the magically-raised students to stare in confusion while the normal-raised ones could only look on enviously - as she tapped things on the keyboard, muttering to herself in over a half-dozen languages (according to Blaise Zabini and Aesup Mun) as she tried to figure something out. "Uh-huh! That's a common attack spell they use when they do formal duels and tournaments."

"'Tournaments?'" Draco asked, his jaw dropped.

"Yes," Veronica Roper said as she walked inside, accompanied by Kingsley Shacklebolt and John Dawlish. "On the _Mundus Magicus_, to celebrate the founding of both the Northern Federation and the Southern Commonwealth, a cross-cultural celebration is held yearly - roughly eighteen months by our way of telling time - at various cities where the finest warrior mages and sorcerers duel to show off the new spells they've designed."

Everyone gaped. "That's impressive," Percy noted. "When you went there on your honeymoon, Professor, did you get a chance to actually see one of them?"

"Not live, I'm afraid," Veronica admitted. "Travellers from Earth - especially if they're HUMAN travellers - are restricted to Ariadne when they use the Garden of the Galaxy to go to that world. Which is understandable; many of the Tribes are, in their own way, as xenophobic as many Terran magical societies." She then gazed on Rose. "Rose, I don't mean to make you worry, but I'm afraid Percy's mother was quite mad when your howler nearly destroyed her house. Auror Sergeant Shacklebolt and Auror Corporal Dawlish are here to ask you some questions about what happened and why."

Rose didn't appear disturbed by that. "Identification, please."

Kingsley and John perked - though both knew that Rose had every right to ask them since they weren't in duty robes - and then they nodded as they drew out their wallets and handed them over. As with all aurors serving the Ministry, their badges of office were on a fold-out flap. Rose drew out her wand - which made the aurors gape - and aimed it at the former's wallet. "_Acclaro Veritas!_" she whispered. As everyone watched, a tendril of energy connected the wallet to the older auror. Noting that, she nodded as she placed the wallet down, and then did the same spell to John's wallet. Seeing that, she then smiled as she slipped her wand back under her cloak and then she handed the wallets back to them with a smile. "Thank you very much."

"Who taught you that spell?" John demanded as they took the wallets back.

A shrug. "Uncle Moony did."

Their jaws dropped. "Remus is teaching you spells?" Kingsley asked. "And you already have a wand? But you're only nine years old! How . . .?"

Harry gave them sympathetic looks. "Show them, Rose."

Rose reached into her blouse to draw out her own wallet, pulling out a plastic card - similar to a credit card - which she then handed to Kingsley. The auror took that, and then stared at it before his jaw dropped. "Oh, my heavens . . .!" he gasped.

Eyes locked on him. "What's the problem, sir?" Percy asked.

Kingsley showed the card to John. "What it means, Mister Weasley, is that Miss Potter, after she had the Neuwied Test done on her, was judged worthy enough to commence wand training much earlier than usual," he said as John tried desperately to pick up his jaw from the floor. "Hence, she has the right to weld a wand and learn magic as if she was actually her brother's age and attending Hogwarts."

"But that's only allowed when someone scores at least 185 on the Test," Hermione protested as she stared in wide-eyed shock at Rose. "Oh, my God! Is THAT . . .?"

"The result of what Grandpa Glaston did," Harry affirmed with a nod.

"A tragedy indeed," Kingsley said as he handed the card back to Rose. "So now that we've established the fact that you can have a wand and are using it well, what actually provoked what happened at the Weasley residence earlier today, Miss Potter?"

"An insult on my brother's personal honour and his sanctioned rights in the eyes of Her Majesty as the Marquess Potter of Taunton Deane," Rose immediately answered as she pulled a folded sheet of parchment from under her cloak and handed it over. "I made a copy of it for our own use. The original I give to you, Sergeant."

Kingsley took it, and then opened it to read it. He then gaped before showing it to John. "Who gives her the right to make such demands?" he asked as the other auror blinked as he took it in his hand, several students coming over to gaze at it.

"She has none, Sergeant. My late parents' will was unsealed and read to my brother and I five years ago, shortly after we began living together and Defence Master Lupin took his Loyal Oath and was permitted by the Queen to become my brother's magical guardian," Rose stated. "Nowhere in Father's will was anyone of the Yeoman Magical House of Weasley of the Loyal County of Devon listed as candidates to act as Harry's magical guardian. And my magical guardians are Healer Hamilton St. John and your retired co-worker, Nancy Snagge, who is Her Majesty's chief constable where we live."

Both men gaped. "NANCY'S your godmother?" John asked.

"She was there when Rose was born and Mom died," Harry supplied.

Silence fell for a moment, and then both aurors nodded. "Your opinion, John?" Kingsley asked as he gazed on his co-worker.

"Everything's on the up-and-up, Kingsley," John replied, nodding. "Though there is one small thing, Lord Potter. Given the gravity of what Mrs. Weasley tried to do to you, you do have the right to demand almost anything in reparations."

"That is true, Auror Corporal Dawlish. But I'm not going to be a barbarian about it," Harry noted as he relaxed in his chair. "As a matter of fact, as I do have access now to my family fortune, I'll be more than willing to pay for the physical and ward repairs to their home and have my friends at Gringotts do those repairs."

Everyone gaped at him. "Harry, that's not . . .!" Percy began.

"Percy, it's not your fault, much less Fred's and George's - and heck, not even Ron's fault, either! - that your mother is so backward in her attitudes," Harry cut him off. "I'm fully aware of how hard-working your father and eldest brother are. And in a way, I can even forgive your mother for her mistakes. As long as she learns that there are certain lines she can't cross. And I will draw that line if I have to."

Silence fell as people gazed in admiration on him. "That is quite forgiving, Harry," Kingsley stated. "I assume you're about to tell us your condition for that."

"I am. And it is this: She must swear on her magic, before Rose and me as well as you two fine gentlemen - and in the headmaster's office with Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape also present! - that she will NEVER again seek to force her will either directly or through proxies like her son and daughter on myself or my sister."

Eyes locked on the Weasley boys who were there as they exchanged a look. "That sounds fair to me," Fred then said. "What do you guys think?"

"I've got nothing against it," George noted. "Perce?"

"Indeed." Percy then straightened himself. "Lord Potter?"

"Yes, Young Master Weasley?" Harry asked.

The older student sighed. "Forgive me, but how do you wish to be properly addressed? I heard your sister use 'marquess' for you, but I don't understand it. Anyone who has the right to sit in the Wizengamot is normally addressed as 'lord.'"

"Because I, thanks to my taking the Loyal Oath to the Crown in 1986, also acknowledge that my family is seen as holding a magical marquisate in the overall Peerage of the Realm," Harry stated. "If you feel it proper, I am 'Marquess Potter.'"

A deep bow. "I understand that, Marquess Potter. And speaking for our parts of our family, I deeply extend my thanks to you for your generosity. And I hope this sordid incident will not permanently sour your opinions of our family."

"I'm sure that will never happen in the future, especially when your mother is made to finally see the light," Harry stated. "And it is my pleasure. My beloved sister can be quite passionate when she senses a threat to my life or well-being." He then winked. "In other words, I've seen the results of Rose's rants and howlers, Percy. Save for the Dark Dorkhead, I really wouldn't wish that on anyone!"

"_**HEY!**_" Rose snapped.

Laughter filled the room. "So are we finished posturing like peacocks?"

Eyes locked on Chikage, and then more laughter filled the room, even from the three professors at the blackboard. "What were you doing?" Pansy asked.

"Writing up Rose's activation key," the traveller said.

Everyone gazed at her. "What's that?" Kingsley asked.

"Rose is learning some aspects of magic from the _Mundus Magicus_, Sergeant Shacklebolt," Chikage said. "I am familiar with that as the man who saved my life five years ago - in my dimension and timeline - is trained in their ways. In the Great Hall, she made use of an attack Negi - that's his name, Negi Springfield - is often fond of using. But she couldn't use the full potential of that attack because she didn't comprehend how she could tap into the power that makes the Lightning Axe - or as it would be more properly translated, 'Zeus' Hammer' - so deadly when used by an expert."

"What Tribe is he from?" Veronica asked.

"He's human, Professor. Unlike the situation here, my Earth and the _Mundus Magicus_ in that dimension have interacted deeply for twenty-six centuries. Many human magicals have migrated to the _Mundus Magicus_ ever since that time. Negi himself is blood descent of the ruling family of the city-state of Ostia in that world."

"So what's an activation keyword?" Hermione asked.

"In the _Mundus Magicus_ - thanks very much to the fact that the whole PLANET is brimming with magic - it became the norm to conserve one's magical core by using key phrases to call upon a higher Power or Powers to 'loan' the energy over to make a spell work better," Veronica stated. "The phrase used to make that calling is called the 'activation keyword.' I've heard Rose's friend Elaine Buckshire use one when she practices her magic. It's personalised to the wizard or witch who uses it."

Silence.

"You mean there's a native of that world here on Earth?" Kingsley asked.

"Sure!" Rose said. "She's here to study our society so she could get her mastery in interspecies relations and be licensed to teach back home in Ariadne."

"And by the way, Mistress Buckshire is considered a guest of the Crown, Sergeant Shacklebolt," Veronica then warned. "Legally, she's no different than Chikage."

People tensed on hearing that. "I must get the chance to meet this woman," Filius stated. "A pity, Veronica, that you don't have any sixth years or seventh years currently studying for NEWT History in Magic. If she lives near this Garden of the Galaxy that Miss Hirosaki's grandfather created, I'd love to come for the journey!"

"Well, that depends on the people in fifth year now, Filius," Veronica said as she gazed on Percy and Penelope Clearwater. "We'll see how they do in spring."

"I think you'll have a good class next year, Professor Roper," the Ravenclaw fifth year prefect then said. "At least YOU make history INTERESTING!"

Everyone laughed as Chikage showed Rose her PADD. The younger girl read over the words there, and then she nodded. "Okay! I can do that . . . " she said as she stood up and placed herself in the middle of the room. Drawing her wand, she then aimed it into the air as she began to channel her power.

"Rose."

She tensed. "WHAT? What's wrong now?"

"I don't believe Professor Flitwick, much less the people who teach in the classrooms above here, would appreciate you calling down a lightning bolt through the ceiling and all the intervening floors," Chikage said as she nodded up.

The younger girl tensed, and then looked up. "Whoops . . .!"

More laughter filled the room. "Well, that's easily resolved," Filius then said. "Let's head out onto the back lawn near the outer wall."

People nodded as they headed out of the classroom, Chikage shutting down her PADD and slipping it into her white cloak as they went. Soon enough, they had walked out onto the lawn where the first years went out to learn how to fly a broom. Coming up from the gate that lead to the pathway towards the quidditch pitch was Rubeus Hagrid, who was walking up a three-headed hellhound as big as he. The gamekeeper blinked on seeing who was there with the crowd, and then he grinned. "Why, there's Rose! What are ye doin' here, lass? You're not supposed to be here for two years!"

"A bit of a problem with someone who can't mind their own business, Grand-uncle," Rose said, and then she stopped, her jaw dropping in shock as her eyes danced over what lay out close to the border of the Forbidden Forest. "Oh, GOODY . . .!"

"Rose."

Rose spun around to glare at Harry. "_**WHAT?**_"

"You CAN'T blow up the quidditch pitch!" he said.

Jaws dropped, even Hagrid's, as the Weasley twins made dramatic gasps as they grasped their hearts. "_**WHY NOT?**_" Rose demanded.

"Because no one's declared it a Taboo," Harry told her.

Silence.

"Well it's not MY fault people are crazy!" Rose spat out.

She turned away in a huff as she crossed her arms. Lucy flew over to sit on her shoulder, immediately trilling out a song to calm the upset girl down. Eyes locked on Harry. "Blimey, Harry! Your sister hates QUIDDITCH?" Hagrid exclaimed.

"We were at the Holocaust," Harry explained.

Silence.

"That would do it," Septima noted as many people around them nodded.

"Indeed," Chikage said. "Can someone provide a target at thirty metres?"

"Allow me, Miss Hirosaki."

Eyes blinked as a straw scarecrow then appeared close to the northeast corner of the walled enclosure of the castle. Rose turned and grinned. "Thanks, Grandpapa!" she said before she then scowled at Molly Weasley, who - along with her husband, youngest son and daughter - had followed Albus onto the back yard to join the crowd there. She then turned away as she drew out her wand and raised it high into the air.

Seeing that, Molly gasped. "ALBUS! WHAT IS THAT GIRL . . .?"

Albus made a motion with his hand. "Please be silent, Molly," he ordered as her voice was cut off. "And watch. You will learn something."

"_In Nomine Reginae Meae . . . _"

A rumble echoed through the air as people turned up to see dark clouds forming.

"_ . . . Neumas Iuris Voco Dare Mihi Vim . . . _"

Wind picked up as the rumble turned into loud sparks.

"_ . . . Kenótētost A'strápsatō dè Teméntō!_"

The sparks were now merging into a cacophony of deafening sound.

"_**DÍOST TÚKOST!**_"

Everyone blinked hard as a thunderous _**CRACK!**_ nearly shattered people's eardrums, a flash of pure power ripping down from the sky to touch the tip of Rose's wand before she flung it forth at the doomed scarecrow. The thunder of the magical lightning was then followed by a titanic blast that disintegrated the scarecrow and left a five-metre wide and three-metre deep crater in the soil below it! And over it, a mushroom cloud - just like the one that appeared above Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 after the visit of the B-29 Superfortress named _Enola Gay_ - billowed into the sky.

As soon as the smoke and debris cleared and people looked at the damage, they then jolted as panicked howls and yelps escaped the hellhound that Hagrid was walking towards the castle. "Now! Easy there, Fluffy! Easy!" the groundskeeper gasped as he tried to calm the animal down as it tried to put as much distance between itself and the little human girl that had called down that HUGE bolt of energy from the clouds.

"Sorry, Grand-uncle!" Rose said. "I didn't mean to scare the doggy!"

"It's alright, lass!" Hagrid called back. "It's alright!"

As some people laughed as Hagrid tried to calm the yelping Fluffy down, Rose slipped her wand under her cloak and walked over to rejoin her brother and his friends. "Well done, Rose," Chikage said as people came up to join them. "I don't think even Negi or Evangeline herself could do better with the Lightning Axe."

"Thanks, Chikage!" Rose gushed before she turned and focused her eyes on Molly. "Now . . . " she growled as she marched over to glare intently at Ron's mother. As she came on, both Ron and Ginny immediately backed away, not wanting to get the young redhead mad and have her call a lightning blast down on THEM! "You and I are going to have words!" she snarled. "In Grandpapa's office right now with Sergeant Shacklebolt and Corporal Dawlish with us, not to mention Aunt Minerva and Uncle Severus! GOT ME?"

Molly jaw fluttered up and down as people stared at her . . .

* * *

_Sunday 8 September 1991  
Lucius A. & Narcissa I. Malfoy,  
The Manor,  
Solway Lookout  
Dear Father and Mother,  
I trust this letter finds you both well.  
Father, thank you for sending the Nimbus 2000. I hope I will do both you and Mother proud when I'm allowed to join the Slytherin Quidditch Team.  
I am writing this to report of all the events concerning the first week of schooling here at Hogwarts. And believe me, they have been quite unbelievable.  
As you asked me, Father, I tried to befriend Harry Potter when we were on the Express to Hogwarts on Sunday afternoon. He refused to see me - even going all the way to somehow having his train compartment magically sealed from all access - stating that he had no desire to speak to the children of the Dark Lord's followers, no doubt out of a more than understandable desire to seek vengeance concerning what happened to his parents (and what nearly happened to his sister Rose, as we all now know) ten years ago. At the time, I thought that would be the final end of it and there would be no way to convert Harry (and by extension Rose) to our noble cause.  
But Harry soon surprised me and all of us here in Slytherin.  
While he was sorted into Gryffindor (as we all suspected would happen) and did face Uncle Severus' wrath when we had our first Potions class on Monday, he soon came to show a level of temperament that - while I personally believe may not allow him to fully ally with us in the future - WOULD pretty much guarantee he will stay totally neutral when it comes to our striving to seek our ultimate goals.  
He demonstrated this on Tuesday morning when, just before our initial flying lesson, he gladly REFUSED to support Ron Weasley's pathetic attempts at badgering me into verbally sparring with Harry. After Weasley insulted all of us by calling us "snakes," Harry - much to ALL our shock! - formally apologised to all of my year, addressing my housemates with formal titles and using the proper forms. And while we were tempted to accept such a heartfelt apology in the spirit it was given, glad to know that Harry had chosen to forge his own path in lieu of falling in alongside families such as the Weasleys, we simply could not since Harry felt it was necessary to apologise for the actions of _Weasley_ instead of something he personally had done.  
You both, I believe, know what happened next.  
While I was showing up Neville Longbottom for his stupidity, I took his Remembrall and move to leave it in a nearby tree. Harry - he and Neville share a room, so I've heard - came after me, showing the stunning flying ability he clearly inherited from his late father. On seeing him come at me, I was startled enough to drop the Remembrall and Harry pulled the most perfect Wronski Feint I've ever seen to catch the Remembrall before it hit the ground. Of course, his head-of-house saw what happened and tried to get him to become a seeker on his house quidditch team.  
He REFUSED to join!  
I was shocked. I couldn't believe that Harry would do that. But he felt it was only proper to refuse to play quidditch when other deserving first year students couldn't get the chance. And, thanks to Chikage Hirosaki (of whom I will write of soon enough), the Headmaster discovered that the school rules would permit first years to play quidditch as long as they prove they could handle a broom safely.  
As I said above, I promise I'll do my best to prove myself worthy of that gift.  
Ever since that time, Harry has acted with respect and politeness when he has been with anyone of our house. He has also proven himself more than a match for Weasley's mother, as was just proven yesterday after she sent him a howler demanding he submit to the boy's demands and reject all his friends - especially Achelois Runcorn and Camellia Matthews - who are not part of Gryffindor. It actually got to the point where Rose came to the castle with help of their phoenix companion, demonstrating a remarkable skill in magic when she unleashed a spell from the _Mundus Magicus_ called "Zeus' Hammer" on Weasley's mother, which she later demonstrated on the back lawn of the school, leaving a real big hole there after she learned how to better use the spell thanks to Chikage. And right in front of Weasley, his parents and his brat sister!  
Oh, speaking of which, Weasley is pretty much cut off from Harry. In response to his mother's attempt at controlling Harry, Rose - with help from the Aurors - forced her to take an oath on her magic to vow never again to make either of them bow to her wishes, either by herself or through her son and daughter. You should have seen the look on her face when she walked out of the Headmaster's office. It was priceless!  
I'll try to hang onto the memory so you can see it in your Pensieve later.  
And now, the OTHER big news: The Traveller's granddaughter.  
Chikage - her name, I learned from Camellia, means "a thousand shadows," which sounds like a decent name; it fits her so well - didn't just appear at the end of the Sorting to nearly scare everyone to death like her grandfather did back in 1932. She arrived on Harry's birthday where he and Rose live (I apologise for not knowing where that is), no doubt causing that event that caused such a panic in the Ministry. She rode with Harry, Aesup Mun and a muggleborn girl named Hermione Granger on the Express to Hogwarts, then (as we were waiting for the Sorting Ceremony to begin) she GREETED all the house ghosts by NAME. At that time, she demonstrated to Blaise Zabini that she is as much a polyglot as he; the languages he says she can speak (atop Japanese and English) include Korean, Latin, Greek, French, Italian and Mandarin Chinese.  
She was sorted into Hufflepuff at the end of the ceremony, which really hurt the Ravenclaws badly. I've yet to understand why, but Pansy, Daphne and their friends seem to be getting close to her, so I'll report on it when I can. And she's just as well skilled in non-magical power as her grandfather was said to have been. On Tuesday, she discovered a most loathsome creature called a 'tsidoki' in the History of Magic classroom, then fought it with a something she called a 'soulsword' (I don't know how one makes one, though). She then gladly stood as judge over the creature, asking Harry (who, much to my shock, speaks perfect Gobbledegook!), the Headmaster, Professor Flitwick, Professor Binns - and even the poltergeist Peeves! - to render judgement.  
Said judgement was death by beheading thanks to the soulsword, which exhausted Chikage, but she recovered to rejoin us for supper, when the Headmaster awarded her 100 points, fifty of which was for her concern for Professor Binns' spirit. I asked her about it later and she told me, "Draco, if it was YOU who was trapped like that, I would have done the same." Which clearly reflects well on her grandfather's beliefs, I think.  
Chikage has also caused a bit of a revolution to happen here, especially if what I remember of what you both told me of your time at Hogwarts was like. She's fluent in the laws of the Wizengamot and the rules of Hogwarts, which she showed on Monday when she told everyone that it was alright for students to sit with friends regardless of house (save if it was a formal feast like the start-of-year and end-of-year banquets or celebrations like Hallowe'en and Yule). Harry and the others followed suit and even I found it comfortable enough to sit at other tables after watching them for a while.  
Speaking of her personally, I will confess that she is most admiringly reserved like other Japanese wizards and witches we've met over the years. She gladly - when the occasion calls for it, like the tsidoki - addresses anyone by proper rank title. Harry, for example, is "Marquess Potter" (and I learned yesterday that we, as we are equal in stature as Harry's family in the Wizengamot, would also be marquesses in the muggle ranking system). And she is quite polite to anyone she speaks to, even those who wouldn't really care for someone as quite unique as she is.  
I've yet to engage her in a conversation concerning what her views towards our society might be - they must be considerable given that she came HERE to study magic in lieu of her own universe's Hogwarts or Dejima - but I will try to do that when the chance offers itself. However, if you feel I should back away, I'll gladly do so.  
I will write again on news here next weekend.  
With love,  
Your son Draco_

* * *

_Sunday 8 September 1991  
Raven C. Malfoy & Cassiopeia U. Lestrange,  
The Manor,  
Solway Lookout  
Dear Raven and Cassi,  
Well, the first week's done at Hogwarts and a lot's happened here.  
I don't know whether or not to kiss you two or kill you, though!  
Why didn't you WARN me Chikage was here, for Merlin's sake?  
You dream-talk to Harry's sister Rose all the time and I KNOW Chikage's going to stay with them wherever they live! Father and Mother know about her now and you KNOW they're gonna be as interested in her as they are in Harry and his sister!  
Anyhow, like I said, a lot's happened here. Thanks to Harry and his sense of fair play, I'm going to try out for the house quidditch team.  
DON'T SEND ME HOWLERS ABOUT THAT, OKAY?  
I KNOW you two hate the sport, but I like to fly! Deal with it!  
I'm sure Rose is gonna fill you in on details about yesterday's events here, but I have to ask you: Is Rose ACTUALLY learning the magic of the _Mundus Magicus_ from some woman from that planet that lives close to where she does now? Some lady named Elaine (I forget her last name)? I saw a spell both she and Chikage called "Zeus' Hammer" - Rose actually USED it on Ron Weasley's mother in the Great Hall after she tried to sic a howler on Harry! - and it's just AWESOME! You should see the hole in the back yard after Chikage taught Rose something called an "activation key" that's supposed to be used to make the spell work even better. It's HUGE!  
As for Chikage herself, she's really causing a stir here. When you get here, you'll be able to sit with Rose at any table (except the head one, of course) save for the start-of-year and end-of-year banquets and the special banquets like Hallowe'en and Yule. I'm sitting with a lot of people from the other houses these days, especially Harry and all his friends, including a really smart muggleborn girl (I know! I know! You hate the word "muggle" too!) named Hermione Granger, whom Harry likes a lot and Chikage seems to like a lot, too. And there's this other muggleborn named Sally-Anne Perks, who actually ran into squib relatives of Blaise Zabini's near where she lived. She doesn't even mind them calling her a "mudblood" since her mom taught her something from the muggle Bible that says that we're all "mudbloods" since the first man was made from dust. I couldn't believe that myself, even after Chikage quoted the actual lines from this "Book of Genesis." Could you two find out anything about that?  
And while I've got to act like I don't care about them, I have to admit Hermione and Sally-Anne are trying to fit in, especially since I think Harry likes Hermione a lot (and he's got friends like Achelois, Camellia, Aesup and the others here, too!).  
Still, there's one GOOD thing about it: Poor Ron Weasley's totally cut off from them! I can't WAIT to see what happens when the Weaslette shows up here next year and finds herself cut off from her precious Boy-Who-Lived!  
It'll just make the first year you guys are here all the sweeter!  
By the way, if Grace starts yelling about me picking on her brother Neville, tell her to cool off, okay? The guy's totally helpless here! I think she ruined him every time she dived in to stop his grand-uncle from picking on him all the time!  
Anyhow, other than Chikage killing a tsidoki (I didn't see it, but from what Harry and his friends said, it was awful!) and we getting a new History teacher in Jane Roper's mom Veronica, it seems like a normal start-of-school year here.  
I'll write when I can.  
Love,  
Drake_

* * *

_Sunday 8 September 1991  
Malcolm A. & V. Gruoch Parkinson,  
The Manor on the Ridge,  
Morecambe Bluffs  
Dear Mom and Dad,  
Well, the first week's over and a lot's happened here.  
You probably read some stuff in the _Prophet_, so I'll give you the details.  
First, there's Harry.  
He's just like you always hoped he'd be once you learned that he was away from his muggle relations and living under Uncle Remus' charge: Looks totally like Uncle James did at that age yet he's got Aunt Lily's eyes.  
And he's so POLITE and FRIENDLY!  
He got into Gryffindor (Surprise! Surprise!), but he doesn't seem to care too much about house rivalries, especially when it comes to Slytherin. He's polite (I wouldn't really say friendly) to Draco and his bookends. And he's willing to sit with anyone regardless of house for meals (yes, the _Regula Hogwarts_ allows that to happen!). I've confirmed that he's really close to Aunt Napaeae's daughter Achelois, Aunt Diana's daughter Melli (they're Slytherins and already standing up to Draco!), Aunt Ronnie's daughter Jane, Aunt Corry's daughter Mary (they're both Hufflepuffs) as well as Uncle Brian's daughter Brianna and the eldest daughter of that North Korean family whose son graduated last year, Aesup Mun (they're Gryffindors).  
Atop that, there's this really smart muggleborn girl named Hermione Granger who's now part of his group. From what I've been able to guess, she met Harry and his sister when they were in Diagon helping Chikage (Hang on! I'll get to her soon enough!) get her school supplies, and they hit it off right then and there.  
The real big surprise here is that while Harry does seem to get along with the older Weasley brothers like Percy and the Joker Twins, Harry doesn't care too much for Ron Weasley. As a matter of fact, yesterday, Harry nearly got a howler from Ron's mother, but Uncle Severus caught it in time. And then Harry contacted his sister - would you believe that they have a PHOENIX? - and she sent a howler that nearly brought the Burrow down! When Ron's parents came here with Ginny, Rose - who came here thanks to that phoenix; she calls her "Lucy," don't ask me why! - then blasted her down with magic from the _Mundus Magicus_ of all places! And then, when Chikage told Rose about a special trick of their type of magic, Rose let go with another attack on the back lawn that left a hole there as big as what an airplane bomb can do!  
Believe me, if the Dark Lord ever comes back, Harry and Rose are going to be ready for him!  
And now Chikage.  
Dad, please don't be upset that she's a Hufflepuff. Turns out that Chikage - and she's so nice and polite, just like everyone says her grandfather was! - thinks of herself as a "reincarnationist," believing she has lived in past lives, just like that muggle American general George Patton did. She even thinks that she has this great love that has been with her in all her lifetimes. But in THIS life, he's her half-brother back home, which really must hurt her bad. Hence, Hufflepuff.  
And even better, she's willing to teach people all sorts of things. Like her grandfather, she's mastered some weird martial arts stuff in her universe that I actually saw her pull on Peeves the poltergeist on Monday morning. She also used something even nastier on a tsidoki she discovered in the History of Magic classroom on Tuesday; she actually chopped off the thing's HEAD with it after she got Harry (and yes, he DOES speak Gobbledegook!), Professor Flitwick, Professor Binns, the Headmaster and Peeves to judge the thing for what it did to make History of Magic so boring back when you were here. And thanks to that, Aunt Ronnie now teaches History.  
Chikage is also teaching Daph, Trace, Millie and me a Japanese martial art named "aikidō" (Harry and his friends, plus Hermione, are in on it too) in the Vanished Wing, which is where her granddad came up with all the great stuff he did, including the you-know-what that he later gave to people like Aunt Napaeae. She also discovered the charms and potions notes for something called "_Aelf Evolutio_," which made house elves human in form and behaviour. If you want our elves to have it, I'll ask her.  
Mom, things in Slytherin are pretty much like you described it was to me, but now that Harry and Chikage are here, things might actually turn out pretty okay.  
Knock on wood!  
Love,  
Pansy_

* * *

From _The Daily Prophet_, edition of Monday 9 September 1991 . . .

_**GIRL-WHO-LIVED MAKES FIRST KNOWN VISIT TO HOGWARTS  
Rose Potter Demonstrates Attack Spell From **_**Mundus Magicus**_** To Defend Harry!**  
by Rita Skeeter  
As many rumours percolating out of Hogwarts this incredible school year are on the lips of everyone from Hogsmeade to Ottery Saint Catchpole and from Diagon Alley to Tinworth, a new story is being told throughout wizarding Britain about an unbelievable event that has given many a first-chance look at the power of the Girl-Who-Lived.  
Rose Potter shocked the wizarding world on her brother's eleventh birthday with her appearance at the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon, revealing the incredible hidden story of the attack of You-Know-Who on the Potters that awful Hallowe'en night ten years ago. And while it will still be a couple years before she begins her own magical journey at Hogwarts, joining her beloved brother Harry and the Young Traveller, Chikage Hirosaki, among the ranks of students there, she gladly demonstrated on Saturday last that she is more than prepared to deal with threats to herself or her family.  
While your crusading reporter did not have the chance to personally witness Rose in action when she came to Hogwarts on Saturday, the news she got from others currently attending Hogwarts as students or teaching there as staff has told me plenty.  
This is what is known:  
We all know how Rose came to survive the attack on Godric's Hollow. How Glaston Tore, best friend to the Traveller himself while he was here in the 1930s, went to the Potter cottage the night You-Know-Who went there to murder James, Lily and Harry. Once there, he sensed Lily was pregnant with a child, then gladly sacrificed his life (and even more importantly, his __**magic!**__) to ensure Lily would temporarily survive the Killing Curse cast on her by You-Know-Who, allowing a family friend of the Potters, Napaeae Runcorn, to get her moved to a secret location, where Lily could give birth to Rose in peace and safety before she departed this life for the next.  
What has now been revealed is the sheer level of __**power**__ Rose received when Glaston made that incredible and gallant sacrifice in 1981.  
When her blood was examined by Healer Poppy Pomfrey at Hogwarts shortly after she united at last with her famous brother in the summer of 1986, Rose scored a shocking __**205 points**__ on the Neuwied Test, introduced to the wizarding world by Senior Unspeakable Johannes Neuwied of the German Department of Mysteries. As was revealed when the Neuwied Test was brought to Britain in 1984, this would make this nine year-old girl the near-equal of current Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore himself!  
Because of that, Rose qualified as one of the few children to earn the right to begin wand training years before taking formal classes at Hogwarts, which your stylish crusader for the truth has now confirmed is now been directed by Harry's current magical guardian Remus Lupin, the first werewolf ever to be accredited as a Defence Master and the only living true close friend of James and Lily Potter.  
And she's not stinting on it.  
On Saturday, Harry - who has, at the passionate urging of Chikage, been doing a lot to promote inter-house unity since he began attending Hogwarts last week - was the near-recipient of a Howler from Molly Weasley, mother of Harry's housemates Ronald (who is in the same year as the Boy-Who-Lived), twins Frederick and George (both in third year) and Percival (a prefect in fifth year). Said Howler, whose contents are unknown, demanded that Harry end his friendships with close lady friends in his year like Napaeae Runcorn's daughter Achelois (a Slytherin), Camellia Matthews (also a Slytherin), Jane Roper (a Hufflepuff, daughter of new History of Magic professor Veronica Roper), Marian Rivers (also a Hufflepuff) . . . and shockingly enough, the Young Traveller herself, who is being hosted by the Potter siblings at their residence, yet clearly does not pass muster with Mrs. Weasley as she herself is a Hufflepuff!  
People should also know that Achelois and Jane are Harry's oldest witch friends, having gone to Little Whinging in 1986 to introduce the Boy-Who-Lived to the world of magic after Rose and their house elf guardian Lilian Evans (a physical and mental replica of the late Lily Potter, once owned by Glaston Tore, who was allowed to become virtually human in looks and behaviour thanks to a spell-and-potions regime called the "Elf Evolution" invented by Ryūji Hirosaki as part of his NEWT studies in 1938-39) rescued him and the Dursley family from an awful prank played on Harry's aunt and uncle by James Potter on their wedding day in 1978.  
Fortunately for Harry and everyone else, he wasn't in the Great Hall of Hogwarts when the Howler came from the Weasleys. Intercepted by Potions Master Severus Snape and deactivated before it could be publicly heard, it was immediately delivered to the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry then showed a display of true determination to not let this insult on his family, much less this threat against his personal desire to live his life in peace and under his control, pass. Sending the now-harmless Howler to Rose via phoenix, Harry provoked a retaliation that rocked Ottery Saint Catchpole to its foundations when Rose demonstrated that she too could make use of a Howler. Or, as a close family friend of the Potter siblings, Luna Lovegood, called it:_**  
The Mother of All Howlers!**_  
Clearly stunned that someone - to say anything of that someone being a CHILD! - would stand up to her demands, Molly raced to Hogwarts with her husband Arthur and daughter Ginny to publicly demand Rose be brought forth for punishment. Well, Rose was already there, having been transported to the castle just minutes before by her family phoenix, Lucy. With her wand. And knowledge of a very powerful spell.  
The Lightning Axe.  
Never heard of it? Don't be surprised, for the spell actually comes from the Magical World, the _Mundus Magicus_ that was discovered by Glaston Tore and Ryūji Hirosaki in 1936. A world full of magical beings that has, it is now known, been watching over events on Earth since that day. And from where came a woman named Elaine Buckshire, another personal friend of the Potter siblings, who taught Rose the Lightning Axe that she used on Molly Weasley when she threatened Harry.  
"It was the most incredible thing you ever saw!" fourth year Slytherin Peregrine Derrick said in a letter to the _Prophet_ on that incredible display of spell work at the Great Hall on Saturday. "The actual words of the spell were pretty long, but when it was cast, it nearly blew Weasley's mom out of the Great Hall itself!"  
"After seeing what Rose did to Weasley's mom, I hope she never gets sorted into Gryffindor," second year Gryffindor Cormac McLaggen wrote. "Given the way Harry refused to play quidditch and how everyone here's hating that, if Rose comes here (and she HATES quidditch, PERIOD!), no one's going to be safe from her!"  
And if that demonstration wasn't enough, Rose then learned how to IMPROVE her use of the Lightning Axe thanks to Chikage, who gladly claimed that it was a wizard from the _Mundus Magicus_ of her own dimension who saved her life five years ago. Once she learned that - it was called an "activation keyword" by Professor Roper, who is quite knowledgeable in the ways of the _Mundus Magicus_ - Rose then tested it out on the back lawn of Hogwarts, leaving behind a crater as big as a giant!  
While some people might disapprove of the Girl-Who-Lived learning a spell that was actually created on another planet, we must not forget the many improvements to our own ways of magic that were gladly given to us by Ryūji Hirosaki when he studied at Hogwarts from 1932 to 1939, just before Grindelwald's War. Improvements that we use right to this very day and are taught to eager young wizards and witches at Hogwarts.  
For those who might be concerned about Rose Potter actually using magic while she is still too young to attend Hogwarts, your tireless investigator of the facts learned this from Mafalda Hopkirk from the Improper Use of Magic Office: "While it is improper for a girl who is not even eleven to possess and learn how to use a wand, Miss Potter was tested as having scored high enough on the Neuwied Test in 1986 to grant her an exemption under the High Potential Magical Children's Act of 1985. An application - which was kept totally secret, obviously to protect Miss Potter from those of You-Know-Who's supporters who might have sought her out to kill her for what happened before she was born - for such an exemption was made on her behalf by Albus Dumbledore and approved by this office shortly after her brother went to live with her. I should also note that Harry Potter, who scored 197 points on the Test, was also granted a special exemption, which is quite good since it would be grossly unfair for Rose to learn wand magic while her brother couldn't."  
As for the use of the Lightning Axe - which is cast using the Greek phrase "_Kenótētost A'strápsatō dè Teméntō: Díost Túkost_" (in English: "Come down, Oh Lightning, from the Void and cut down my enemies: Zeus' Hammer") by the Girl-Who-Lived, International Magical Office of Law director Gerald Oxfam said, "While the spell could be seen as questionable by British standards - especially given the considerable amount of words needed to cast it - it must not be forgotten that certain societies on Earth have unique spells and rituals they like to keep to themselves and ARE considered legal to use no matter wherever they go. I understand there is a treaty between the United Kingdom and Madame Buckshire's home city of Ariadne on the _Mundus Magicus_ which does permit natives of that city to use their magic here without any restrictions save for when they threaten innocent lives. There is also no prohibition in that treaty on any native of Ariadne - I've heard Madame Buckshire is aspiring to be a professor when she completes her studies here and returns home - on teaching said magic to any worthy student who is one of Her Majesty's subjects, as Miss Potter is."  
He then laughed as he added, "Given that Miss Hirosaki is now with us, it would be rather quite hypocritical of anyone in the Ministry of Magic to comment on foreign magic when her grandfather, when he was studying at Hogwarts, introduced and improved on our own magical lore with what he learned in summer holidays on travelling to six separate dimensions. I'm personally glad we're learning more magic from other places. I can't wait to see what Miss Hirosaki will bring to us during her summer trips."  
This reporter gladly adds that we at the _Daily Prophet_ hope so, too!_

_**To be continued . . .**_


	12. Rhosan Green Comes to Hogwarts

Time marched on . . .

After the considerable furor of the first week at Hogwarts, things settled down to something akin to what - according to older students that had either befriended or at least become casual acquaintances with the new blood amongst them - passed for "normal" at the school. There were the differences from the previous years, especially when it came to History of Magic. While the uniqueness of actually enjoying a history class that didn't automatically put one to sleep certainly caught everyone's interest, students in the older years had to face the catch-up classes to get themselves to where Veronica Roper wanted them to be. And THAT wasn't the least bit fun.

While there was an undercurrent of resentment from many - especially from the third, fourth and fifth years - towards Chikage concerning what her actions did to their future studies, NO ONE was stupid enough to directly challenge her. After all, a girl now known to be a slayer of demons was someone even the most vicious senior did NOT want to be on the bad side of. And whoever was close to Chikage - people like Harry (who was seen as untouchable for many other reasons), Hermione, Brianna, Aesup, Jane, Marian, Camellia and Achelois - was pretty much seen as off-limits as well.

The first years themselves didn't really care for what their elders felt as they went from class to class. Despite a growing element of disappointment when it came to Defence Against the Dark Arts, the newness of magic (in the eyes of the normal-borns) and the chance to finally experience formal teaching in magic (in the eyes of everyone else) had grasped their minds and enticed their inner yearning to be the best they could be, regardless of which subject they took. From the strict but quite informative classes in Transfiguration under Minerva McGonagall, to the jovial practical work in Charms with Filius Flitwick, to the hands-on experiences in the greenhouses as they were guided by Pomona Sprout, to the romping storytelling in History of Magic thanks to Veronica Roper - and even to the very demanding standards Severus Snape desired in Potions - classes being taken by the forty-two first year students were an adventure into a world that was becoming far more complex than it seemed to them that night on the boats on Loch Eigheach, even to those who had grown up in the wizarding world.

And while classes marched on relentlessly ahead with a regular pace - and the homework began to pile up on everyone now that people had proven themselves capable of navigating from class to class and from class to dormitory and from dormitory to the Great Hall without any sort of difficulty - there were special occasions . . .

* * *

The Great Hall, Thursday 19 September . . .

_Happy Birthday to you!  
Happy Birthday to you!  
Happy Birthday, dear Hermione!  
Happy Birthday to you!_

Laughter filled the end of the Gryffindor table as the crowd around the lucky birthday girl began to applaud and cheer. Conversation was muted in the Great Hall as people at the other tables watched the crowd of first years celebrate the second of the new generation of students passing her twelfth birthday (Gregory Goyle, the eldest of his peers, privately celebrated his birthday on the ninth). As noisemakers sounded off, two of the kitchen elves came up to place the birthday cake before Hermione. "Mistress Hermione, here is your birthday cake!" Lizzy, who was the eldest of all the house elves currently working at the school, declared as the cake was slid before her.

"Thank you, Lizzy!" Hermione said with a smile before she took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before leaning in and blowing out the candles.

Whoops and cheers escaped most of the people around her as they applauded. "I don't understand!" Draco called out. Even if he seemed to act indifferent when it came to the normal-borns, he (and his companions) never skipped out of a gathering of their peers at the Great Hall. "Why is it she paused before blowing the candles out?"

"In normal society, the birthday boy - or girl! - has to make a wish before blowing the candles out," Justin explained. "Don't they do that here?"

"Truthfully, we don't," Blaise stated. "While we do celebrate birthdays, this whole thing with the cake is something that's never done in our society."

"Oh, dear!" Hermione then breathed out. "I didn't mean to offend anyone."

"It's not offensive, Hermione," Daphne immediately spoke up. "It's just something we don't do. Sure, there're the presents and the wishes for good fortune from those who pass them on, but the traditional celebration is kept rather tame."

"Why's that, Daphne?" Sally-Anne asked.

"Sally-Anne, look around you."

Everyone blinked, and then turned to see that most of the ghosts that haunted the castle were floating all around them. Hermione took that in, and then she sat back on her chair. "So what on Earth's the problem, Daphne?" she then wondered. "I'm sure that when they were still alive, they had their own celebrations like their birthdays or other festivals. Even after death, they celebrate the anniversary of their deaths."

"That's the damned point!" Theodore then snapped.

"Theo!" Daphne growled.

"You associate exuberance at a birthday party attracting the presence of so many ghosts as a potential threat of evil, do you not?"

Silence.

Eyes locked on Chikage. "How did ye guess that?" Mòrag demanded.

The traveller smirked. "Let me show you. Hermione, will you open my present?"

Hermione blinked, and then she nodded as she reached over to the tastefully wrapped box. Tearing off the wrapping paper, she then opened the box . . . and then gaped in shock before she reached in to pull out the glittering sculpture from within. People gaped as she moved to stand it up, and then leaned closer to take a look at it. "What is this thing?" Millicent asked as she stared at the traveller.

"It's a model of the Megatōkyō Spiral," Chikage answered. "My home back in my dimension. My grandfather's greatest magical construct. And most likely, his last."

"His last, my lady?"

Chikage stared at the Bloody Baron. "The real Spiral, Lord Ælfweard, is - using measurements you, Lady Helena, Friar Simon and Sir Nicholas will be familiar with - twelve furlongs, four chains, two rods, three yards and a little over an inch tall," she stated. As the ghosts - especially those who actually during the time those measurements were used - all gaped at her, she turned to everyone else. "In modern measurements, 2.5 kilometres high. Or 8,202 feet and a little over an inch."

Silence.

"Cor blimey!" Mòrag breathed out as people's jaws dropped in disbelief.

"That's as tall as a bloody MOUNTAIN!" Justin exclaimed.

"Truly an incredible work!" the Grey Lady breathed out.

"Why?"

Eyes turned to the ghost of a lovely girl in the robes of a Ravenclaw student from nearly a half-century before. "Why what, Myrtle?" Chikage asked.

"Why did Ryūji build such a huge tower, Chikage?" Myrtle O'Neil - "Moaning Myrtle" as everyone knew her - asked as she floated closer to the traveller. "I assume he did it totally by magic, but why build something THAT big?"

Chikage smiled as she gazed knowingly at her grandfather's former housemate. "Myrtle, how many of those such as yourself are here at Hogwarts?"

Myrtle hummed. "Well, with Professor Binns gone now, I'd say there are twenty-eight ghosts here," she said before smiling at the Fat Friar. "But since Friar Simon always insists on counting Peeves, you can say there're twenty-nine of us."

"Fair enough," Chikage said before facing the others. "When I go home, people, I will have to deal with over FIVE MILLION such spirits!" She pointed to the sculpture of the Spiral. "That was something Grandfather created to help people such as I do that."

Everyone gaped at her as many of the purebloods there began to pale in horror. "Why so many?" Nearly-Headless Nick exclaimed.

"Courtesy of something you here in Britain have never really had cause to deal with, Sir Nicholas: An earthquake," Chikage stated. "Over two million dead in the first hour. Over three million follow-on casualties in the five years since the quake."

Silence.

"Doesn't that SCARE you?" Pansy demanded.

A shake of the head. "No, Pansy."

"Why the hell did ye get sorted intae Hufflepuff?" Mòrag demanded. "I'd be soiling my knickers if I had tae go tae that place! That's what a Gryffindor does!"

"Gryffindors aren't that bloody STUPID!" Ron protested.

A laugh. "Mòrag, I don't allow such a fear to dominate me." As people stared at her, the traveller smiled. "People, those of you who feel wary of those such as Myrtle and her friends are wasting your energy doing something that won't benefit any of you! Unlike Master Peeves - who is a different type of being than they - they can't hurt you. The reason our honourable and departed companions are with us is quite simple." As people instantly tensed, Chikage smiled. "They're _bored_."

Jaws dropped. "That's terrible!" Susan gasped.

"Yes, it IS terrible, Susan. And by simply engaging them in conversation or doing anything that perks their interest, you relieve them of their boredom and allow them, in their own way, to feel alive," Chikage said before he waved to the Fat Friar. "Here, Susan, is a housemate of ours, even if he has not been in a mortal shell for over seven centuries. Have you ever thought of WHY he might still be here instead of having gone to his heavenly reward?" Before Susan could answer, Chikage then stared at Ron. "There's a housemate of yours, Ronald," she said as she indicated Nearly-Headless Nick. "Why haven't you talked to him about his life? He was a Gryffindor. Surely he would have some interesting insights on what life here was like in the late 1400s you'd love to know." She then gazed on Mandy. "Your house is doubly-blessed, believe it or not, Amanda. Atop someone who was a housemate of my grandfather, you even have the DAUGHTER of the lady who FOUNDED your house!" she said as she waved at Myrtle, and then to the Grey Lady. As the Ravenclaws all gaped in shock, Chikage walked over to the Slytherins. "What of all of you?" she asked as they stared at her before waving to the Bloody Baron. "In Lord Ælfweard, you have a man who knew Master Salazar personally!"

Silence fell as people contemplated that. "Still . . . " Gregory breathed out.

"I know," Chikage said as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's a hard fear to fight off. But it is just a FEAR, Gregory. It's not real if you don't ALLOW it to be real." She then turned to Harry. "Harry, we all saw Rose's hatred of quidditch when she came here the first Saturday of the month. Where does it come from?"

A snort. "The Holocaust at Holyhead, of course."

People winced. "Yeah, that would sure as hell do it!" Ernie noted.

"What do you think about it?" Chikage stated.

Harry sighed. "I'm torn, to be honest with you," he said. "I mean . . . " A shrug. "It was a horrible thing to watch. After hearing it was a deliberate attack on the Harpies by that maniac the Germans finally tracked down to lock up in Nurmengard with Grindelwald, I can see why Rose wouldn't want to get on a broom!" He took a deep breath as Neville, Draco, Vincent and Gregory all nodded in understanding and sympathy. "But if it was just me? Personally . . . " Another shrug. "Well, I'd say that it's just an occupational hazard of the sport. Brooms can malfunction, too!"

"Then why don't you play?" Ron protested.

Harry breathed out. "If it was Ginny that hated quidditch that much and she didn't want you to play, would YOU play, Ron?"

Ron moved to answer, and then he stopped. "I dunno."

"Well, I DO know when it comes to Rose," Harry stated. "I love my sister dearly, Ron. Just as much as I'm more than sure you love Ginny. And I respect Rose's wishes even if it goes against some things I personally believe in. We're not twins like Fred and George are. If anything, we're more like Padma and Pavarti or any other pair of siblings you can meet." On his mentioning their names, the Patil twins both blushed. "And I'm not going to hurt her - much less throw her into a blind, crying panic! - by getting on a broom and playing a game she hates."

"And it is a truly noble and honourable thing to do for such a beautiful and loving sister, young Harold," Nick then stated as people looked at him.

"Indeed so, Marquess Harold," the Baron added. "Were I capable of doing such, I would raise a tankard and toast you for such devotion to the Marchioness Rose."

"What does that mean?" Theodore asked.

"What do you mean?" Harry wondered.

"What's a 'marquess?' And what's a 'marchioness?'"

"They're normal titles of nobility, Theo," Achelois explained before taking a sip of her juice. "A marquess in the normal world is equal to the head of a Noble and Most Ancient Magical House here. A marchioness is a female marquess."

"Just like both sides of your family, right?" Daphne asked.

Achelois nodded. "My family is seen as having a viscountcy, which is what a Most Noble house is in the eyes of Her Majesty," Camellia added, and then she hummed. "Technically, through my mother's family, we would also be seen as holding a barony."

"Of which barony, Lady Camellia?" the Baron asked.

"The Faulkners of Coldfield, my lord," Camellia answered.

Many of the ghosts perked, the ones who had haunted the castle for centuries all smiling. "A most noble and godly family indeed!" the Friar stated. "They contributed to the creation of an abbey founded by a normal friend of mine who encouraged me in my studies at Hogwarts and the use of my magic in the Lord's Eternal Service."

"You were not punished for being magical, Friar Simon?" Hermione asked.

"No, my dear," he replied. "My friends in the monastery always viewed my gift of magic as a gift from the Lord Himself. It is something that sustained me for my whole life and even does so even now that I am a ghost, Hermione."

"Well, if I can just cut in here for a moment, let's get to the real good part about celebrating Hermione's birthday!" Sally-Anne then said.

"What's that, Sarah?" Blaise asked.

"Helping her eat the birthday cake, of course!"

People blinked, and then a roaring laugh escaped many of them . . .

* * *

The Hufflepuff dorms, later . . .

"Please come in, Friar Simon."

"My apologies for intruding on your, my dear," the Friar said as he drifted through the closed curtains of the traveller's bedroom. He then perked on seeing the cards laid out before Chikage. "You are a student of the Tarot?"

"I am not a true Seer as Professor Trelawney or Rose's friend Luna Lovegood are, but I do acknowledge that the Powers that guide these cards exist and They should always be respected when one calls upon Them to guide the cards' movements," Chikage said as she turned to gaze on him. "So how was my lecture at the Great Hall received?"

A hearty chuckle. "I haven't spoken to people about life here when I was a student learning magic - much less what I did after I graduated - ever since your grandfather was here," he admitted. "Everyone right up to the senior years was asking me questions about life back then. Poor Pomona had a truly terrible time trying to get everyone to tuck in for the night. Even more so, young Jane's mother asked me to come by the classroom when she gets to the point in history I'm familiar with so I can help tell the story of the time!" He moved to "sit" on her bed. "The others are the same way. While Helena and Ælfweard are hesitant about speaking the truth of what happened to them - and they do pass on their thanks to you for your silence on that matter - I feel all those who see themselves as heirs to Helena's mother and Ælfweard's teacher will learn much about the truth of what happened here ages ago when this castle was first built. And maybe so . . . " He sighed. "We are cursed, you know."

"I am aware of that," she advised before sipping her tea.

"And we are grateful to you as we were to your grandfather when he was here," he said as he smiled at her. "It is God's Will that brought you here, Chikage. And it is a blessing. I pray that it will be enough to hold back the one whose actions slew poor Myrtle shortly after your grandfather departed this place for the last time."

"You mean Tom."

A nod. "Aye. There is a soul I fear may be beyond salvation, though I will not judge him." He then gazed heavenward. "It is not my place to do so, after all."

"True. All can be saved in their own way."

"I know." The Friar then smiled. "And I am grateful that you are not alone in thinking that about poor Thomas. Albus still hopes there is good in him."

"It is one of the most sacred beliefs of my homeland, Friar Simon," she said as she walked over to gaze out the window at the lovely night sky over the mountains and the waxing gibbous Moon overhead. "_Giri._ It has many ways of being expressed and honoured depending on the situation at hand. Grandfather saw such potential in Tom when he was here. More potential than in anyone else who would later take the oath to the Crown and serve as Rose will serve one day." She closed her eyes. "A child born of a terrible act like what his mother did to his father when she allowed love to drive her to such an extreme. And when she died after he was born, he was left totally alone, practically abandoned, wondering what his place in this life was and for so long, not getting the right answer. And then the answer came when the headmaster visited him when Grandfather was in his sixth year. And when he came here . . . " A shake of the head. "'Prove them wrong.' It was a simple thing he told Tom when they parted at King's Cross in 1939." Another shake of the head. "But not like THAT!"

"Aye." A pause. "What will you do, Chikage?"

"If I face Tom?" A shrug. "I can't say. It depends on him." A sigh. "I may allow anger to take me if he provokes me. I love my grandfather dearly and I know he tried his best even if mistakes were made. But . . . " She then smiled as she gazed on the Friar. "If he can be saved, he will be, Friar Simon. That I promise."

The Friar nodded. "Your word, my lady, I accept." He then gazed to the ceiling. "As does He, Chikage. He is watching over you as well."

"So He does," she stated before sipping her tea . . .

* * *

The Great Hall, Saturday 21 September . . .

"Chikage, I'm so sorry! I can't believe . . .!"

"Aine."

Aine Duffy - a Hufflepuff in second year and the younger of a pair of pretty brown-haired twin sisters - stopped as she and her sister Riona (a Gryffindor) stared at the traveller, who was relaxing and enjoying morning tea after eating her breakfast. Not to mention deliberately ignoring the red envelope on the table that had been deposited by the Duffy family owl, who had flown in that morning straight from their family home near Swansea. "But Chikage . . .!" Riona called out.

"Riona, please. I would like to enjoy my tea."

"Um, Chikage . . . "

A sigh. "What IS it, Ronald?"

Ron, who had finished his breakfast over at the Gryffindor table, had come over to stand behind Chikage, who was currently with her friends at the Slytherin table. A pointed look from Blaise made sure he behaved. "You better open that thing."

"Why should I?"

"Because it's gonna blow up on you pretty soon," Millicent advised.

Chikage blinked, and then she sighed. "Mistress Melanie?"

_Pop!_ A cute girl elf appeared beside her, immediately giving the traveller a pout. "Mistress Chikage! Why can't you calls Melly 'Melly?'"

Chikage sighed. "Mistress Melanie, I refuse to address any sentient being regardless of type by such a silly nickname . . . "

"Is not nickname!"

Here, the traveller stopped. "Excuse me?"

Melly nodded, grinning. "Is true, Mistress! But Melly understands why you thinks of Melly as 'Melanie.' You mistakes Melly and other elves here at Hogwarts for human elves that your grandfather Master Ryūji helps be human, yes?"

Chikage blinked. "Um, yes. But still . . .!"

"Mistress dids not understand! Melly is not human elf! Melly is elf! Maybe if Master-headmaster allows Melly to be human elf and does things human elves do, then Melly wills become Melanie. But Melly is Melly and Melly WANTS to be Melly!"

"She's got a point, Chikage."

Chikage stared at Hermione, and then she sighed. "You are right about that, Hermione." She then stared at Melly. "I apologise, Mistress Melly."

"Is okay! What does Mistress wants Melly to does?"

"Will you please be a dear and go fetch some parchment, my inkwell and my calligraphy brush from my nightstand?"

Melly blinked, and then she grinned, nodding. "Melly will goes!"

She then popped out, returning back a moment later with a roll of parchment, a bottle of ink and a beautiful calligraphy brush a little bit larger than a normal pen. "Thank you, Mistress Melly," Chikage said with a smile and a nod as she placed the items on the table, and then moved to finish her tea.

As Melly popped out, the Duffy twins and everyone else blinked. "Um, Chikage, aren't you going to do something?" Pansy wondered as she nodded to the howler.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Pansy. I disabled the magic behind the howler when the owl delivered it," Chikage said with a smile and a wink.

Everyone gaped at her, and then Blaise laughed. "When you tapped it with your finger after the owl dropped it off, you mean?" he demanded.

A nod. "Quite easy to do when you can sense out _ki_ patterns."

On hearing that, everyone relaxed, even the Duffy twins; they had heard about Chikage's abilities. "So aren't you curious about what Mom said?" Riona asked.

"No, not really," the traveller noted. "Most likely, it's a diatribe about my 'exposing all the poor and innocent souls' here at Hogwarts to the 'dark evil' that lurks within the ethereal hearts of all the ghosts that haunt the school."

The twins deflated. "We're sorry, Chikage," Aine moaned. "We told her about what you said at Hermione's birthday party and our talking to Friar Simon and Sir Nicholas afterward about what they've been through here. It was harmless, but . . . "

"Some people can't seem to tolerate change of any sort," Chikage noted as she finished her tea, and then moved to open the red envelope.

People at the table automatically tensed as she did that . . . and then found themselves gaping as she drew out the letter within and opened it to read. "That's a pretty good trick!" Ron said as the traveller scanned the letter, her eyebrow arching and a quirky smile crossing her face. "Could you teach us how to do that?"

"I'll be more than happy to show it to you if your mother decides to do something like that," Chikage promised, and then she sighed. "What a pity."

"What does that mean?" Draco asked.

A look that sent chills down the backs of everyone who could see it then crossed her face. "It means that if this little tirade went off, I doubt Aine's and Riona's mother would have survived what would have happened to her afterward." A smile then twitched at the edge of her lips. "With her sanity - much less her magic - intact."

Audible gulps then echoed from many people. "What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Paragraph 10 of the Magical Post Act of 1722, Harry."

Harry blinked in confusion as he remembered what Rose - who, thanks to what she had inherited from Glaston Tore, could quote paragraph and verse from any of the laws of the Wizengamot as well as any of the Magical Royal Proclamations - had told him about that act. Immediately, Hermione reached into her small book bag to draw out her own copy of the _Legis Magicus_ to get at the act in question. As people gazed on her, Chikage smiled as another cup of tea appeared before her. Finally, the normal-born girl reached the right page and scanned it down before her jaw dropped. "Oh, dear."

"Wh-what?" Aine stammered as she and Riona turned sheet-white.

"_Any offensive articles of mail that are delivered unto the Persons of those under the direct protection of the Crown, as mandated in the Magical Pardon and Oath of Loyalty to the Crown Act of 1703, will be deemed an offensive act against the Crown and the person of the Sovereign directly. Those accused of unleashing such an offensive act against those under the protection of the Crown, once found guilty of such an act, will be punished accordingly by the Crown's Magistrates Magical_," Hermione read before she scanned down to the bottom of the page. "Oh, dear . . . " she then breathed out.

"Let me guess: Howlers are considered 'offensive articles of mail,' right?" Aesup - who was dressed in a formal _chosŏn-ot_ to mark the celebration of Ch'usŏk yesterday she had attended with her family (thanks to special permission given by Albus) in Hogsmeade - asked as she finished off her bowl of kimch'i.

"Yes. As are any articles of mail which are meant to pass curses or any other such attack indirectly on such a target," Hermione stated.

"And that normally means detainment at Her Majesty's pleasure."

Silence.

"What does that mean?" Gregory asked Achelois.

A smile. "Gonebren Prison. For as long as required."

A shocked gasp escaped many of the people at the table as the Duffy twins exchanged horrified looks before they began to weep. "Gonebren?" Draco exclaimed. "But that prison's closed! It's been closed since Azkaban was opened!"

"On the contrary, Draco," Chikage stated. "Her Majesty's Prison Gonebren has remained open and - in the wake of the opening of Her Majesty's Prison Azkaban - was transferred by the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1705 to the direct control of Her Majesty's Magistrate Magical of Cornwall for the exclusive use of him and his peers."

Silence.

"So what's that prison used for, anyway?" Blaise asked.

"For those who escape the grasp of the Aurors, of course," Chikage replied. "Don't you remember how many wizards and witches live in this country from what Professor Roper told us in her class, Blaise? What the difference is between those the Ministry normally sees as who and what they're responsible for and what the real magical population of the country is. The Aurors can't get all the delinquents, of course, so the Magistrates Magical go after them. They're quite effective, too."

"Yeah, that's true," Harry said.

Everyone stared at him. "Harry, was Glaston Tore one of them?" Daphne asked.

"Yep. Since she's his direct magical heir, Rose will become the next one for Somerset," Harry said before he took a sip from his juice.

"That's good," Susan noted. "Being an auror is an honourable profession."

"You're right there, Susan. But Rose never got the chance to decide what she wanted to do with her life," Harry reminded her. "It was FORCED on her right at birth because of Grandpa's sacrifice. You can decide if you want to follow your aunt into the Auror Corps. Rose never got the choice to become one of the Magistrates Magical."

More silence.

"The downside of the _Desidero Infantis_," Chikage noted. She then perked. "In the meantime, ladies, shall I write your mother or will you?"

Everyone noted she was looking at the Duffy twins. "Wh-wh-what do y-y-you m-m-mean?" Aine stammered as they gazed fearfully at the traveller.

"Well, would you wish me to inform her of her violating the law or will you?" Chikage noted. "I'll let this go once," she said as she tapped the howler that had been sent to her, and then she reached over to pick up her calligraphy brush and hold it out for their use. "But only _once_," she added in a quiet voice.

Everyone then watched as Riona and Aine ran out of the room. "I doubt people will do THAT again!" Draco said with a smirk as he turned back to breakfast.

"True, Draco. Quite true," Chikage noted as she put her brush down . . .

* * *

Sure enough, within two days, all the howlers stopped.

* * *

The Great Hall, Monday 23 September . . .

"Someone's coming here?"

Albus blinked, a curious look on his face as he gazed nowhere in particular. Everyone was currently enjoying breakfast. "Yes. A small group of people just apparated outside the main gates and are making their way here now."

"Who exactly?" Minerva demanded.

"I'm not sure . . . "

The doors to the Great Hall then opened, revealing a very excited Rubeus Hagrid. "Professor Dumbledore! Professor Dumbledore! You're not gonna believe this!"

Albus stood. "What, Hagrid? What?"

Before the groundskeeper could answer, the doors then opened, revealing a very stately woman appearing to be the same age as Molly Weasley, though she had greyish-silver hair like Rolanda Hooch - though it was long and done up in a beehive like Minerva wore hers - and deep brown eyes on a hawkish face. She was dressed in formal robes, a black cape draped over her body, the coat-of-arms of Her Majesty's Magical Shire Reeve and Magistrate Magical of the Loyal County of Gloucestershire on the flap over her heart. Surprised to see one of the Magical Sheriffs appear officially adorned in her uniform, the headmaster stood and bowed his head. "Dame Magistrate Godwine."

"Baron Chief Warlock Dumbledore," Matilda Godwine said with a polite bow of her head, and then she stared intently at him. "My apologies for visiting the school without announcement, sir, but there's the Queen's business to be done this day."

Everyone in the Great Hall - who was all able to hear the words spoken by the visiting witch as well as the headmaster - all tensed on hearing that. Glancing at the Ravenclaw table, Severus was quick to see a delighted look on Harry's face and an arched eyebrow showing considerable amusement on Chikage's. "And Her Majesty's desire is, Dame Matilda?" Albus then asked with a look of confusion on his face.

Matilda then grinned. "Her Majesty's desire is simply this: That ten children of qualifying age to be first year students here at Hogwarts will be permitted to begin magical studies here, even if it is well into the third week of classes."

Silence.

"How on Earth is that possible, Matilda?" Minerva demanded.

A sigh. "I'm still investigating this with the help of some friends of mine, Minerva. But from what we've been able to discover so far, it appears that a group of rogue house elves, all descent of the servants of the last known wizard lord of the Magical Viscountcy of Meretrice of Wye, deliberately suppressed the magical potential of ALL the inhabitants of the once-lost magical village of Rhosan Green."

A shocked gasp echoed through the Hall from the mouths of everyone assembled there before someone cried out, "_**RHOSAN GREEN?**_"

Eyes snapped over to Sally-Anne, who had shot up from her chair, her jaw somewhere on the floor. Severus was also quick to notice the stunned look on Blaise's face and the looks of total surprise and recognition on the faces of almost everyone else in first year. "Miss Perks, do you know what this is about?" Albus demanded.

Sally-Anne blinked, and then she nodded. "Yes, Professor! Just before I got my Hogwarts invite, I actually ran across a whole magical village hidden in the Forest of Dean, where my father works as a forester! But how did . . .?"

Matilda then laughed heartily before she indicated a now madly-grinning Harry. "Fortunately for you, Sally-Anne, Harry there wrote me and told me about what you said to all your friends during the first week you were here," she said.

Sally-Anne spun on him. "YOU DID THAT?"

"Sure I did," Harry replied. "Aunt Matilda's the Magistrate Magical for Gloucestershire. I wrote her right after you told us about your friends. She wrote back a couple of days ago telling me what happened to everyone there."

Hearing that, the blonde blinked before she leapt over to swamp Harry with an embrace and give him a warm kiss on the lips. As people around them all whooped and cheered, Matilda laughed before calling out, "Sandra!"

_Pop!_ "Yes, Mistress Matilda?" a beautiful teenage girl, dressed in very stylish civilians, then asked after appearing beside her.

"Have the children brought inside, please?"

"Of course, Mistress," Sandra Kellery replied.

_Pop!_ As soon as she vanished, everyone began to whisper amongst themselves before the doors then opened once more to reveal Matilda's house elf, who was now escorting in a group of ten wide-eyed children, all in formal robes but without the necessary house markings on them. Seeing that, Sally-Anne squealed as she ran over to swamp one of them with a hug that could easily have knocked over Hagrid (who was still standing by the doorway, now grinning with delight). "Libera!" she cried out.

People blinked, and then Chikage stood up as she and Harry began to clap. That immediately got others in their clique onto their feet as they also began to applaud. Soon enough, all the students were on their feet and clapping as Sally-Anne moved to bring four other girls - all of whom looked almost exactly like the first girl she had hugged - into her arms. Soon enough, as the teachers also got to their feet and began to clap and cheer, the five other children - three other girls and two boys - joined the mass hug at the end of the hall. Once that was done, Sally-Anne then linked hands with Libera and moved to escort her to the head table. The other Meretrice sisters quickly linked hands, they also joined by their friends as they followed Libera and Sally-Anne to place themselves in a line of review before the staff table.

Albus found himself grinning as he drew his wand and cast _Baubillious_ to get everyone's attention. As soon as the noise died down and people sat, he smiled at Sally-Anne. "Miss Perks, will you be so kind as to introduce your friends to us?"

Sally-Anne grinned. "Of course, Professor!" She then waved to the girl holding her hand. "This is Libera Meretrice." She was dark-skinned like Blaise Zabini, though her hair was actually long, loose and wavy to her waistline, a deep rusty-red shade close to the colour of Marian's and Mòrag's hair; her eyes the shade of rain-laden storm clouds. As Libera bowed politely to the headmaster, Sally-Anne then waved to her sisters. "These are her sisters: Juno . . . " - She had her hair done in a loose ponytail tied at the neck - " . . . Vesta . . . " - Her hair was done in a thick French braid - " . . . Bellona . . . " - Her hair was in a high ponytail in the same style Tracey wore her hair - " . . . and Fauna." - Her hair was done in a curtain of braids from the level of her ears. Sally-Anne then pointed to the others. "These are some of their closest friends: Tara Mather . . . " - She was a pale-skinned girl with raven hair to mid-shoulders and deep brown eyes - " . . . Nyx Letum . . . " - She was a girl with tanned skin similar to the shade possessed by the Patil sisters, who also possessed black hair and eyes that seemed as dark as deepest space - " . . . Hemera Hesiod . . . " - She was a girl with Caucasian skin shade, sunflower-blonde hair tied in a single ponytail and bright blue eyes - " . . . Erebus Geanian . . . " - He was a thin boy with skin about the same shade as Nyx's, possessing short-cut dark brown hair and brown eyes - " . . . and Ophion Rhodes." - He was a stocky boy who could match Vincent Crabbe in body structure, with messy dark brown hair and deep blue eyes.

All ten of them bowed deeply to the headmaster, spreading hands in a gesture of repentance similar to what Harry had given to the Slytherins in first week. "Lord Headmaster Dumbledore, we give you our deepest apologies for causing such a disturbance upon your noble school by our horrid tardiness," Libera said for them all.

Albus bowed his head in return. "Young Mistress Meretrice, do not apologise for something that was clearly out of your control," he returned properly, and then he gazed on Matilda. "May I ask what happened to their relatives?"

"Most likely, the adults in the village - there's about eighty there, including the children's parents - and the older children will remain squibs for the rest of their lives, Albus," the Magical Sheriff of Gloucestershire replied. As shocked gasps filled the room and people exchanged stunned looks and hissed whispers, she added, "These ten are the first to show signs of normal magical capability. They've all been subjected to the Neuwied Test." She drew out a folded sheet of paper and handed it to him, he taking it with a delighted nod and smile. "There are the results."

Albus opened the sheet of paper and scanned the notes written there. "Oh, my heavens!" he said as his grin grew wider. "Well, it appears we need to hold an impromptu Sorting Ceremony," he then said before gazing at Minerva, who was beaming with delight. "Would you please go fetch the Sorting Hat, Professor McGonagall?"

"Right away, Professor!" the transfiguration mistress replied.

Hearing that, cheers and whoops filled the room as students all got back to their feet and applauded what happened. Hearing that, all ten of the newcomers found themselves blushing, several moving to share warm hugs with each other and Sally-Anne. Soon enough, Minerva came back with the Sorting Hat. Sensing that some people wanted to shift around to get back to their proper house tables, the headmaster smiled. "Please remain where you are now!" Albus then called out. "Granted, this is a belated Sorting for our newcomers, but due to the unexpected nature of this event, there's no need to sit at the house tables." As Minerva conjured a chair and placed the Hat on it, Albus reached over to hand the list to her. "Will you be so kind, Professor?"

"Um, Albus . . . "

Silence fell as eyes locked on the Sorting Hat. "What is it?" Albus asked.

If the Hat could grin, it would. "I haven't prepared a new song! I never expected to be asked to Sort new students again so soon!"

Jaws dropped as people took in that statement, and then a roaring laugh filled the Great Hall before people began to applaud. "I'm sure our newcomers' classmates will be glad to regale your song from a few weeks ago when they get the chance, old friend!" the headmaster then said before gazing at Minerva. "Please begin, Professor!"

"Of course, Professor!" Minerva said before calling out, "Geanian, Erebus!"

He headed over, stopping before the Hat and bowing before moving to place it on his head. A moment later, it called out, "SLYTHERIN!"

Whoops filled the hall as Erebus stood up and took the Hat off, placing it back on the stool. "My eternal thanks, good Hat," he said in a wispy voice.

"Mister Malfoy, will you please stand?" Severus called out. As Draco stood, the potions master waved towards him. "Mister Geanian, I'm sure Mister Malfoy will be more than pleased to help you make your away around the dorms and the classes."

"My thanks, Lord Potions Master," Erebus said with a deep bow, which Severus acknowledged with a nod. He then headed over to join Draco, his hands out in a show of friendly greeting. "Well met, Lord Malfoy," he said as Draco grasped his hands.

"Well met, Lord Geanian," Draco said as Vincent rushed off to get another chair for their new housemate so he could sit down with them.

More cheers filled the room as people from Slytherin met their new housemate. Minerva turned to the sheet Matilda had brought with her. "Hesiod, Hemera!"

Hemera walked over to take her place on the stool, doing as Erebus did and pausing to bow deeply to the Hat before donning it. A moment later, the Hat called out, "RAVENCLAW!" As cheers escaped everyone in the room, especially from Hemera's new housemates, she stood up, took the Hat off her head, and then leaned over to kiss it on its "cheek." "Thank you very much, Mister Hat," she said in a very cute voice.

Jaws dropped as she placed the Hat on the stool, and then she turned to gaze at the head table. Filius was quick to realise what she was expecting, and then he called out, "Miss Lì?" As Sǔ stood, the charms master waved her on to join her. "Stay with her, Miss Hesiod. She'll be your guide for the next few days."

"My eternal thanks, Lord Master of Charms," Hemera said before she walked over and placed a kiss on the diminutive professor's cheek before heading over to join Sǔ.

Filius collapsed out of his chair in shocked disbelief as whoops and catcalls escaped some of the older students present. "That's enough!" Albus called out, and then he gazed on the other students awaiting their chance at being Sorted. "My friends, if you please, could you keep such displays to a minimum?"

"But Lord Headmaster, it's just being respectful," Vesta stated.

Albus gaped, and then he felt Veronica tug his sleeve. "Albus, by the looks of it, they're fully indoctrinated in the ancient ways," the history professor whispered.

The headmaster blinked, and he nodded. "Um, I see . . . "

Minerva smiled. "Letum, Nyx!" she then called out.

After properly bowing to the Hat, Nyx also took her place on the stool. "GRYFFINDOR!" the Hat then called out, which made all of that house cheer and the transfiguration mistress beam with delight. Nyx then stood up, took the Hat off, and then gave it a warm hug before placing it on the stool. "Thank you, Mister Hat," she said before walking over and embracing a now red-faced Minerva. "House Mother."

As some of the staff stifled back an outburst of laughter, Minerva sputtered out, "Um, M-m-Miss Spinks!" As Brianna stood, Minerva waved Nyx over to join her.

More applause filled the room, which then melted into a chorus of whoops and catcalls as Nyx took Brianna into her arms and gave her a warm kiss on the lips! "Um, Veronica, I pray you WILL be briefing everyone on the ancient ways in your classes," Albus then said as he stated hopefully at his history teacher while a blushing Brianna walked Nyx over so she could take a seat close to some of her housemates.

"I'll make it a priority for the week, Albus," she promised him.

"Mather, Tara!" Minerva then called out.

Tara went up to bow to the Hat, and then she took her place underneath it. A moment later, the Hat called out, "RAVENCLAW!" As people whooped with delight, she took off the Hat, and then embraced it. "Thank you, Mister Hat," she said with a firm yet friendly voice, and then she placed it down on the stool before walking over to give Filius a hug and kiss on the cheek. As he sputtered out in embarrassment, people laughed as Padma came up to escort her new housemate - after she got an embrace and kiss on the lips - over to where she and her sister were currently seated.

Minerva turned back to the paper in her hand. "Meretrice, Bellona!"

Bellona was soon sorted into Gryffindor. As people in her house all whooped and cheered, she gave the Hat a hug and a kiss, and then embraced a blushing Minerva before Aesup came up to escort her to a seat; the Korean witch got a hug and kiss for that one. Fauna was then called up, being sorted into Hufflepuff. As more cheers filled the Great Hall while Fauna "thanked" the Hat and greeted a beaming Pomona with a warm hug and kiss, Susan came up to escort her new housemate to a seat (she also got a hug and kiss). Then came Juno, who was sorted into Slytherin. Much to Severus' relief, she only greeted him with a polite bow before Blaise came up to escort her to a seat (he got a hug, kiss and a hale, hearty "Well met, cousin!" from her as a result). Libera was then sorted into Hufflepuff. After the proper thanks was bestowed to the Hat and Pomona got a hug and kiss, Sally-Anne walked her friend hand-in-hand to a seat close to where Harry was. Vesta was then sorted into Ravenclaw, she being escorted to a place by Mòrag after she took the chance to give a chaste kiss to Filius' cheek. Once that was done, Ophion was then sorted into Slytherin, he being escorted to a seat by a grinning Theodore after bowing to Severus, the two lads also exchanging the proper greetings as Draco had done with Erebus at the start of this mini-Sorting.

Once that was done, Albus performed another _Baubillious_ to quiet everyone down. "My friends, a hearty welcome to our newcomers," he stated, which elicited another cheer from the students and polite applause from the staff. "While we do have classes scheduled this morning and they should not be interrupted even for something like this, I pray all of you will do your best to make them feel welcome here. Just for lunch today, let us all sit at our house tables so that our new friends will get a chance to know who is who. Please make them feel at home and let's have a good day!"

More cheers filled the room . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	13. Sarah Annette Perks MBE

The headmaster's office, later . . .

"Are they NORMALLY like that?"

Albus looked up at the Sorting Hat. "Why, you appear embarrassed, Alastair."

"You would be too if you were subjected to that, Albus!" the Hat snapped back, looking quite flustered. As Fawkes chirped with laughter and the others in the room all smothered back grins, the Hat then seemed to relax. "Still, they all have very good potential even if they were kept totally cut off from mainstream society."

"What exactly happened to them, Mattie?" Pomona asked; Matilda had been two years behind the herbology professor at Hogwarts back in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

"Near as what I could discover, 'Mona, when the quints' great-great-grandfather Jupiter and his wife Juno was murdered back in the late 1860s - most likely by an agent of the Dark Lord Chaucer - his house elves took it upon themselves to use all their magic to shield the whole of Rhosan Green and all who lived within it from all outside detection, especially from anyone then working for the Ministry of Magic. As you might all know, Chaucer was almost as good as Voldemort . . . " - She ignored the shudders and panicked looks on some people's faces when she said that name - " . . . when it came to infiltrating his people into key places in the Ministry to further his own ends." A sigh. "It had an unfortunate side effect, though. The current theory I have now is that when the house elves began using their magic like that, it eventually began to affect the magic of all the wizards and witches living there. Put simply, they were made to become squibs and this was eventually passed on to their children and future descendants. It ultimately came to the point where everyone in the village effectively forgot that the elves could have easily removed all the magical energy blocking their own magic from being used. Until it was too late for them." Matilda gazed at Albus. "Ian Boot and a team from the Unspeakables are already investigating this after I got Hogan to invite them over to take a look at things. Hopefully, I'll be able to pass on more information about this as time goes on."

"How was it possible for those children to gain magic?" Severus asked.

"From what Bill Bone - Harry also contacted him for his help as Sally-Anne hails from Herefordshire - and I could discover, incidents of accidental magic in Rhosan Green still happened," Matilda replied. "But incidents like that were dismissed by the adults as merely something the elves were doing; until we came along, there actually was next to no contact between the wizards and the elves in Rhosan Green."

"What of the elves?" Filius asked.

"As soon as I realised what was happening, Her Majesty granted me a Magical Warrant to use the _Aelf Retier_ to break the bonds between the elves and their then-current 'masters,'" Matilda reported before she closed her eyes and she moved to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Sadly, using that spell killed almost all of the elves that lived there. We had them buried in a grove near the village, then Bill and I worked to get the normal-repellent and notice-me-not wards converted over to more standard wizarding wards." Those that were in the know about the _Kokujun_ were quick to realise that Matilda and William Bone would have based such wards on Ryūji Hirosaki's system to ensure their durability. "What few elves survived the _Aelf Retier_ were sent to Gonebren to give the Hollows a chance to cleanse anything from their souls that might make them hurt people in the future, and then they'll be subjected to the _Aelf Evolutio_ before I take them on as add-ons to my personal staff at my home."

Matilda then sighed as some of the people around her shuddered. This was understandable, of course, given the very dark reputation of Her Majesty's Prison Gonebren. Located somewhere in Cornwall and currently under the charge of Moore Boddy, the Shire Reeve of England's most southwest county, the "Maze Among the Rocks" - as Gonebren was often nicknamed by all who knew of it - was inhabited and watched over by something that made Dementors look quite tame in comparison.

The Hollows.

To even SPEAK of them would chill the heart of the bravest wizard, even NOW, almost three hundred years since Gonebren Prison was supposedly "closed."

After all, it was said, a Dementor from Azkaban saw a wizard merely as food, a wizard's happy thoughts always available to be sucked out at will.

A Hollow from Gonebren always made it PERSONAL.

Matilda sighed again as she added, "It'll be a while before people there fully recover, though. Ian told me that if we didn't show up when we did, those children I brought in might have lost all hopes of using their magic within a year."

"How terrible," Pomona whispered.

"How prepared are they to attend classes?" Severus asked.

"We got them freed of the elves a week after Harry wrote me and told me about what he had learned from Sally-Anne," Matilda replied. "It just took us a week to fully indoctrinate them in what's been happening outside their village, then we went to Diagon to get their supplies and prepare them for coming here. They should be alright, but I've advised Peter about this, so he'll be on the watch out for any . . . "

The fireplace then flared. "Albus!"

The headmaster looked over. "Yes, Cornelius, what is it?"

"Can Delores, Amelia and I come through?" the Minister for Magic called out. "I just learned of something totally astounding! You need to hear this!"

Everyone grinned. "By all means, Cornelius!" Albus replied.

The floo fire flared, allowing Cornelius Fudge to step through. He was followed by Delores Umbridge and Amelia Bones. "Hello, everyone," Albus said as he walked over to take the Minister's hand. "Do come in and sit down. Lemon drops?"

"No, thanks, Albus," Cornelius said as he and his companions took their seats, and then he stared in curiosity at the other woman there. "Who . . .?"

Albus perked. "Ah! Forgive me, Cornelius. May I present Dame Matilda Godwine, Her Majesty's Magistrate Magical for the County of Gloucestershire," he said as he waved to his other guest, and then he gazed on Matilda. "Matilda, I do believe you know Minister Fudge, Senior Undersecretary Umbridge and Director Bones?"

"I know of them, but I've not met any of them before," Matilda said as she rose to take Cornelius' hand. "Minister Fudge. I trust this is because of Rhosan Green?"

Cornelius gaped, and then he grinned as Matilda shook Delores' hand, and then Amelia's, before everyone took their seats. "Why, yes it is! I just recalled your name! Chief Unspeakable Croaker told me you were the one who alerted his department as to what happened out there! Thank you so much for doing that! Was it difficult?"

A shake of the head as people relaxed. "Not as difficult as I believed it might have been," Matilda stated. "The house elves that did all that - those that survived my breaking the bonds between them and their 'masters,' so to speak - could, at most, be accused of unwilling ignorance of their proper duties to those they were serving given how emotionally and physically separated they were from those they were seeking to 'protect.' They're in Gonebren Prison now being rehabilitated, and then I'll take them on as my personal staff once they undergo the Elf Evolution."

Delores frowned. "They should be destroyed immediately! What they did . . .!"

"Was something they were compelled to do by their mothers and fathers, as they were by their own parents and so on for several generations beforehand, Madame Umbridge," Matilda cut the other woman off. "And ultimately, despite what happened to the generations between the deaths of Jupiter and Juno Meretrice and the discovery of the village by Sally-Anne Perks, no one was killed because of what happened. They'll need help to adjust to not having so many house elves around them, but the people of Rhosan Green will ultimately survive their ordeal and be better people for it."

"That's a good thing," Amelia noted.

"How soon could you have an Auror team go there to investigate this?" Cornelius asked as he stared at the Director of the D.M.L.E.

A shrug. "I personally believe it's not necessary in this case, Cornelius," Amelia stated. As Delores gaped at her and Cornelius looked confused, Amelia then waved to Matilda. "Dame Matilda, as one of the Queen's Magical Magistrates, has the equal powers of an Auror in her county of responsibility; this was mandated by the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1692 which officially established their position when King William and Queen Mary gave Royal Assent to the Separation Act. If she needs assistance, we'll be willing to give it, but it's ultimately her case, not ours."

Cornelius and Delores looked stunned on hearing that. "I won't need such, but I really appreciate the offer, Amelia," Matilda stated. "I'm in the midst of mustering a volunteer magical constabulary for Rhosan Green from other magical subjects resident in Gloucestershire, plus anyone from neighbouring counties willing to move to the village from elsewhere. Everything should be ready to go by the middle of next month."

"They won't be werewolves, will they?" Delores demanded.

Matilda's eyebrow arched. "Delores, Her Majesty has no care for that sort of silly prejudice," she flatly announced. As the senior undersecretary looked shocked, the Magical Sheriff of Gloucestershire added, "Still, to allay your concerns, I'm creating a force that will have non-afflicted wizards and witches since the village is not the one I myself live in with my life-mate. As to who will be the Chief Constable, that is up to the people of Rhosan Green to decide. The elections will be the Sunday before Hallowe'en." She gazed on Albus, ignoring the gaping look on Delores' face and Cornelius' stunned surprise, as she added, "By the way, Albus, under the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1840, the children I brought to school today also must vote."

The headmaster blinked. "I'm not aware of that proclamation."

"I am," Amelia spoke up. "It's a proclamation which established the rules of responsible government for all magical villages inhabited by those who have taken Loyal Oaths to the Crown and fall under the jurisdiction of the Magistrates Magical."

"Well, this is not the same!" Delores snapped as she sent a withering look at Matilda before gazing at Amelia. "Jupiter Meretrice was an outstanding member of the Wizengamot when he was alive! They're under Ministry jurisdiction!"

"Until such time as they decide to fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry, they will remain under my supervision, Madame Umbridge," Matilda warned, her voice now cold and frosty. "If the Wizengamot is so hot to trot to get more tax revenues into the Ministry's coffers, it would immediately throw out the Defunct Lords Act of 1957 and allow those who would inherit seats in the Wizengamot from Rhosan Green - and elsewhere! - to take their seats so they can perform their duties."

Delores gaped. "WHAT? We won't do that! All the houses we removed were full of nothing but squibs! We won't have squibs in the Wizengamot! It's just not done!"

"Oh, really?" Matilda asked in a syrupy voice that made Severus stare wide-eyed at her as he asked himself which house the older woman had been in when she attended Hogwarts. "There are at least fifteen people alive today that I personally am aware of who are fully-fledged witches and wizards who could, under the old rules, take their seats even if their parents are squibs or normals. It was Tom Riddle's early allies in the Wizengamot who forced that law down on everyone when they got the chance."

"Who are you talking about?" Delores hissed. "Abraxas Malfoy, you mean? He was a just and upstanding citizen of wizarding Britain! I will not . . .!"

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone jolted on hearing Albus' barked shout. The headmaster turned to stare intently at Delores. "Now, Delores, this is NOT the forum to argue such matters."

The senior undersecretary snorted as she looked away. Matilda smiled as she stared at Albus. "I'll come up with a ballot box to use for the children when it comes time to make their choices clear, Albus," she said. "Atop that, Her Majesty wishes to extend her personal thanks to Sally-Anne for her help in discovering what happened at Rhosan Green, so Bill will be here on Sunday to take her to Balmoral when Rose has her monthly meeting with the Queen so she can be presented her M.B.E."

Almost everyone looked confused. "'M.B.E.?'" Filius asked.

"'Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire,'" Matilda said as she rose, moving to leave. "All tuition fees for the children have been paid off for this year from my personal account in Gringotts, Albus. Please floo me if there are any problems with them and it doesn't need Peter to directly intervene."

"I will do so, Matilda," Albus said with a smile. "And I'll inform Miss Perks of what is to be expected of her on Sunday."

"My thanks. Good day, everyone."

With that, she walked out of the room. The teachers were quick to see the stunned, almost overwhelmed, looks on Cornelius' and Delores' faces . . .

* * *

The Vanished Wing, after the start of the third morning period . . .

"So your grandfather made maps of the ley lines throughout the United Kingdom before he actually went out to distribute the _Kokujun_ stones?" Albus asked.

"He did," Chikage said as she sorted through the pile of parchment on one of the work tables in the northeast classroom. "Since the whole matter with Libera's home village all started many years before he actually came here, I wonder how it might have affected how he placed the stones in Gloucestershire . . . AH! Here we are!"

Albus perked as she drew out one sheet and spread it out over the table. Also with the headmaster at this time were Marian, Jane and Libera. "So it was your grandfather who spread the 'evil stones' all over the British Isles," the eldest of the Meretrice quintuplets mused as she gazed on some of the other maps, her eyes lightly spiralling as she tried to interpret the kanji and kana on each chart.

Chikage perked. "'Evil stones?'"

"Yes," Libera affirmed with a nod. "I remember Mother telling me of a tale she learned from one of the house elves, dating from the time your grandfather, I believe, was attending this school. How this strange man came to the Forest and placed several stones throughout the Forest near the village. He never penetrated the wards, but there were times the elves noticed him looking in the direction of the village."

"Understandable," Chikage noted. "This is where Rhosan Green is, right?"

She pointed to a place on the chart. Libera looked, and then nodded. "It is."

"Just south of The Pludds, in the forest between there and Brierley," Chikage mused. "High concentration of minor ley lines; this would've attracted Grandfather like a blooming flower would a bee. Did the elves try to move the ward stones?"

"They tried, but never could. Or so Mother told me," Libera stated. "Every time they tried to vanish the stones, the magic would lash back and nearly kill them. Eventually, they convinced themselves - or so Dame Matilda and Sir William currently believe - that if they reinforced their own magic protecting the village, the 'evil stones' would be neutralised so that those who used them wouldn't harm anyone."

Chikage smirked. "Wouldn't work. The _Kokujun_ - from what I've seen of Grandfather's notes so far - was designed to always work in **sympathy** with whatever magic it touched, regardless of where the magic first originated from. No doubt, as the stones became more firmly wedged into the ley lines here and here . . . " - She pointed to the places on the chart to the east and south of Rhosan Green - " . . . the elves' magic that was acting as the 'moat' between the village and all that was beyond was reinforced. And since no one in the village ever questioned what was going on, there was no impetus for things to change. Until Sarah came along."

Albus hummed. "Miss Perks had a respectable score on the Neuwied Test, as I recall. One hundred-and-forty-seven points, in fact. And given that she was, at the time she first met you, Miss Meretrice, untrained in the ways of magic . . . "

"The elves' wards wouldn't consider her a threat," Marian noted.

"But since a metaphysical 'breach' was formed by Libera's meeting Sarah, the fact that she, her siblings and peers were still capable of tapping fully into their magical potential - as well as, in the wake of Sarah getting her invitation, everyone began to wish they could also come to Hogwarts - would be sensed by the _Kokujun_ stones, thus allowing the breach to remain open until Dame Matilda came to deal with the elves," Chikage finished. "Fate is a most strange thing to witness at times."

"Indeed it is," Albus noted. "Miss Meretrice, do you believe you, your sisters and your friends are prepared to deal with the outside world after being born in such isolation? I will not deny you the right to learn what is your birthright . . . "

A sigh. "As you are the headmaster here, Lord Dumbledore, you have the right to ask that," Libera noted. "And I believe we all can confess to feeling much wariness dealing with people who live not just under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Magic, but also those protected and shielded by the Magical Sheriffs. And while those of my house under House Mother Pomona's charge are willing to be of assistance in case we encounter something that might confuse us, I fear for my friends in the other houses, especially those under Potions Master Severus' charge in Slytherin. Even if the truth of the life of the False Lord Voldemort is being revealed thanks to Jane's mother in History of Magic, there are many - or so Dame Matilda told us - who still adhere to those insane fears when it concerns muggleborns and their place in our society."

A nod. "Fear is a terrible thing to confront and control. I will agree to that, Miss Meretrice. But Jane's mother is doing much to fight that fear in her class and it appears that many of those who needed to learn the lesson among your peers are heeding it." Albus then sighed. "Tom is a threat. Destiny has forced someone to become the direct hand in dealing with that threat. But there are those who would gladly flock to Tom's banner when he returns. Our job is to ensure he does not have the wide pool of potential recruits he could call on twenty years ago."

"Amen to that," Jane noted . . .

* * *

The Slytherin potions laboratory, after the start of fourth morning period . . .

"Were you not insulted, Draco?"

Draco perked on hearing that question, and then he gave Juno a light smile. He, along with Blaise, Vincent and Gregory, were helping their new dorm-mates catch up on the potions classes they had missed. "You mean all the beggars?" he asked. As Juno gave him a nod, the young scion of the Malfoys of Cumbria then shrugged. "I was warned about them by my father well before I came here, Juno. It's to be expected. Father is a member of the school's Board of Governors and a very wealthy man." He then sighed. "That's not to mention his working relationship with the Dark Lord, of course."

"But now it is known that the False Lord is that: _false_," Ophion mused as he finished cutting up the ingredients for the skin-cleansing draught that had been taught to the first years the previous week. "Was your father aware of his true origins?"

A shake of the head. "I don't know," Draco admitted. "I've yet to breach the subject with him in letters back home, but given how passionate Professor Roper is in teaching us the true history of this land, I . . . " Another shake of the head.

"It is feared that he will return," Erebus warned. "Dame Matilda and Sir William both told us that when we were freed from the elves' magic."

"That's true," Gregory grunted.

"Where will you stand when that happens?" Juno wondered.

Silence fell over the room as Draco and his friends considered that. "We don't know yet," Blaise finally answered as he gazed on his cousin. "That he's still alive even if without a body - if Jane's mother is to be believed - is a miracle in and of itself. I don't have much knowledge in the ways of the black magics, but the Dark Lord would have had to turn to something like that to survive a rebounded Killing Curse thanks to what Harry's mother did to protect him ten years ago. If he does come back, though . . . " A shake of the head. "Mother never liked him and she was smart enough to resist his lure when he tried to bring her in when she was younger. Her wealth will protect her this time." He closed his eyes. "At least, I hope it will."

"I can understand that," Draco noted.

"What about you guys?" Vincent asked.

Juno, Erebus and Ophion exchanged looks before shaking their heads. "We will not support such a man," the former then declared. "That he purports to seek to protect our society by claiming he is pure of blood when he is not - much less he being born of magical rape - deserves no respect. It deserves nothing but disgust."

"Given the fact that he also wishes to press forth his goals with murder and torture, that is also another reason to disregard him," Erebus added. "While defending our society from the potential threat muggle ways may bring unto it is one thing, killing off defenceless children - to say anything of the unborn - is another."

"You better be careful in expressing those views," Blaise warned.

The newcomers all grinned. "Oh, fear naught for that, dear cousin," Juno said as she gazed fondly at him. "There are powers loose in this land that will not stand idly by when such a madman haunts our lives. He will be struck down and all those who support him will be destroyed as well. All we hope is that when the time comes . . . "

"You will not be caught in that," Erebus finished.

"Or you'll know when to get away from it," Ophion added.

"It's the way we live our lives," Draco reminded him with a knowing smirk.

Laughter filled the room . . .

* * *

The Hufflepuff dorms, after supper . . .

"Thanks for switching around, Megan."

"No problem, Sally. Is everything okay, Libera?"

Libera nodded; she was currently at her (formerly Megan's) work desk enjoying a cup of tea, a considerable pile of homework spread out before here. Sally-Anne was currently standing beside her friend; she was helping the other girl out in catching up with what had been missed in Transfiguration. "I am well, Megan, despite the deluge of work I need to do to catch up with all of you in classes. My thanks for your concern, of course." She then perked. "Will you and Fauna be alright?" she asked.

Megan nodded. She had volunteered to switch places with Libera so the latter could share a room with Sally-Anne. Megan and Fauna now shared a room beside Chikage's space; the traveller was still bunking alone. "We'll be fine. Speaking of which, I better look in on her to see how she's doing with her own home- . . . "

"Megan?"

Megan perked as Fauna walked up to them. "What is it?"

"Where is the orchestra?"

Megan blinked, and then she laughed. The muted sounds of a symphony orchestra playing a very fast-paced piece were echoing through this part of the dorms. "That's Chikage's music player on her PADD," she said as she waved the others with her.

Everyone walked over to the closed curtains of Chikage's bedroom space. Megan then peeked through the curtains to see the traveller at her desk in a meditative pose, her PADD opened up before her and music escaping it. Her homework was off to one side, complete for the next day's classes. "So what's the selection tonight?" Megan asked.

"A little Kenji Kawai to relax myself before I turn in for the evening, Megan," Chikage said as she gazed over as the piece came to an end, and then switched over to a haunting aria. "Does the music bother you, Fauna?"

Fauna shook her head. "Um . . . n-no. But I'm wondering where the sound is coming from?" As Chikage pointed to the silvery slate of crystal on her desk, Fauna and Libera blinked before they stepped in to take a closer look. "What is this?"

"When they were helping you better prepare yourselves for coming here, did either Dame Matilda or Sir William explain how technology has advanced among the normals?" Chikage asked. On seeing the oldest and youngest of the Meretrice quints shake their heads, she indicated the PADD. "This is what is normally called a 'computer.'" Given Libera's and Fauna's total ignorance when it came to all things normal due to their lifelong isolation, Chikage moved to keep the explanation as simplistic as possible, "It's a device used by normals which does many things, including storing all forms of information. Currently, it's acting as a portable music player; there are many recordings stored here to remind me of home. Under normal circumstances, while I'm attending school here, it will act as my personal grimoire."

"It is a strange device," Libera mused. "How did the muggles come to make it?"

"Roughly a hundred years before your village was cut off from the outside world, the normals began a process called the 'Industrial Revolution' - here in Britain, in fact - which allowed them to start bettering their society to a degree that the advancements of the previous eight centuries could barely equal." Chikage then tapped the keypad of the PADD to stop the music and call up a holographic image of the Hogwarts Express. "This, for example. While the version everyone uses to travel from here to London and back is magically powered, its inner mechanisms are the same as what was used on a steam locomotive that was in operation back in the 1930s."

Libera blinked, and then she reached over to pass her hand though the image of the Express. "And how is this done?" she asked as she pulled her hand back.

"Manipulating various colours of light and projecting it into the air," Chikage explained. "It's called a 'hologram.'" She then tapped controls to close off the hologram and bring back the music player before starting a new song, this one from the artist Yuki Kajiura. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to meditate for a while."

The others blinked, and then they quickly withdrew from the bedroom. As Megan and Fauna headed into their new room, Libera and Sally-Anne returned to their space, the former taking her seat as she got back to her homework. Sally-Anne reached under her pillow and drew out her wand, aiming it at the curtains. "_Kyojun: Cubiculum Impervius_," she called out; Megan had taught her that spell.

Libera didn't react to that. "She is a most strange woman."

"Chikage?"

"Yes. Is it true that she is from another world?"

A nod. "A parallel Earth that developed in a much different way that we did," Sally-Anne said as she moved to undress and get into her pyjamas. She tried not to blush as she felt Libera's dark grey eyes fall over her. "She came here because the magic of this world isn't so mixed up like it is in her dimension so she could study where it came from and understand how it developed on her planet. You remember Megan telling you about the _Mundus Magicus_, did you?" On seeing her friend nod, Sally-Anne smiled as she slipped on her pyjama bottoms. "Well, in her dimension, the two worlds have been interacting and trading with each other for over two thousand years. That doesn't happen here, so she can study things as they might have developed over there."

Libera hummed before she turned back to her Transfiguration notes. "Odd. Is it safe for her to stay here, though?" she asked.

"She can stay for under a solar year before moving into another dimension, and then come back," Sally-Anne reported. "That'll happen in the summers while she's staying with Harry and his sister; she'll go off to dimensions her grandfather went to when he studied here in the 1930s to learn more magic, then bring it back to us."

"Amazing . . . "

Silence fell over the room as the eldest of the quints turned back to her homework, the only real noise being the music drifting through the curtains from Chikage's room. Sally-Anne also turned back to her homework; while she wasn't as book-smart as Hermione Granger, for example, she had learned good study habits quite early in life and she prided herself in doing her best when it came to schoolwork, even if this was radically different than what she had been learning just a year before. Time moved on as they finished up with their work, and then Libera rose from her desk after putting her books away, moving to undress. "That was pretty nice."

Sally-Anne watched her, and then she blinked on noticing that Libera hadn't worn any panties or other undergarments with her uniform. "Um, Libera . . . "

The other girl perked. "What is it?"

The normal-born sighed. "I think I need to show you some things."

Libera blinked . . .

* * *

Diagon Alley, Tuesday 24 September . . .

"An entire magical village? Totally cut off from everyone?"

Delores nodded. "Yes, Lucius. It was discovered by a muggleborn firstie. The village was inhabited. By descendants of Jupiter Meretrice, in fact, as well as others. They were made to go into hiding by his house elves back in the 1850s."

Lucius Malfoy took that in, and then he hummed. "Really? How are they?"

A sigh. The senior undersecretary was currently meeting with the patriarch of the Malfoy family in a private meeting room in the Leaky Cauldron, the room now warded off from all outside spying. "Most of them are squibs, unfortunately. The house elves that did this to them ended up suppressing their magical abilities to the point where the Unspeakables and the healers at Saint Mungo's believe there'll be no chance of recovery. Some children from the village have their magic, still. Ten of them started classes at Hogwarts yesterday. A few more will come over the next couple of years."

"Who found out about this?"

"Matilda Godwine," Delores answered. "Hogwarts, Class of 1951, a Slytherin. She currently lives out near Gloucester, but I don't know exactly where." A snort. "Another of the Queen's 'magical magistrates,' believe it or not."

Lucius blinked. "So what's the problem?"

"The problem is, it should be the **Ministry** dealing with this matter, not people like her. She's using some of those magical proclamations the Queen puts out from time to time to see to it that we're totally cut off from properly governing the place." Delores snorted. "Raising a 'volunteer constabulary' - it'll be probably full of werewolves, knowing these people - to police the place! Disgusting!"

His eyes narrowed as he took that information in. "Indeed," he breathed out in a voice full of silk. "What is Cornelius doing about it?"

A snort. "Nothing, of course. He's still shaken over what the Young Traveller warned him about the night after she came here, how he had to present himself to the Queen to assert what the **Wizengamot** voted on when he was elected Minister! Then meeting Rose Potter and learning about these 'magical royal proclamations' . . .!" A shake of the head. "We're supposed to be separate from the muggles, Lucius! Does THAT sound like we're separated? Yes, she's a queen, but she's a muggle, too . . .!"

A hum. "Indeed. It will have to be investigated."

Silence fell as they turned back to their breakfast. Glancing briefly at the senior undersecretary, Lucius did his best to hide a grin. He had to personally admire Delores for her skill in passing on information to the right parties to see her goals - which, in many ways, were his goals as well - pressed to their proper conclusion. Which was understandable, of course. She had graduated first in her class back in 1962 from Slytherin, going to work in the Ministry right away and doing all she could to make it to a real position of power by the time the Dark Lord had fallen. Why Delores hadn't been invited into the Death Eaters, Lucius still didn't understand, but perhaps when the Dark Lord returned, that could be rectified in the right way.

As she sipped her tea, Delores sensed the odd appraising look from Lucius. Each time, she did her best to hide her own grin. As a sister Slytherin, she had long ago recognised what he had done to protect himself - and ultimately protect his family's future, of course - from a lifetime spent in Azkaban in the wake of Voldemort's fall. It had been brilliant and had reaped considerable rewards for not just himself, but for all of his allies who had taken the same path to escape a permanent stay with the Dementors. And while she personally didn't want to submerge herself into the dark, bloody world he had gladly been a part of a decade and more before, she could admire him for his willingness to stand up for what was truly right in society.

The purebloods were the leaders.

The half-bloods were the followers.

The muggleborns, if allowed at all, were the servants.

It was as simple as that.

But now . . .

Now . . .

She tried not to shudder as she recalled the shocking events of the last three weeks. The arrival of the Young Traveller - a clearly bright and decent young witch with a good head on her shoulders and a keen willingness not just to learn but to pass on what she learned to others - should have been a sign of better things to come.

It hadn't been.

It heralded revelations that had shocked Delores to the very core of her being.

In many ways - despite her known prejudices against those NOT of pure blood, in all their various forms - she believed very much in what Cornelius Fudge believed.

The Ministry of Magic was the ONLY power that could rule over the wizards and witches - and by extension, ALL magical beings - of the United Kingdom.

But now, to know . . .

To learn that the Ministry of Magic was ultimately so POWERLESS!

To learn of these Magistrates Magical . . .

To learn that these days, over THREE-QUARTERS of the wizards and witches of Britain (regardless of magical power) were effectively BEYOND Ministry influence . . .

To learn there were more magical beings in Britain that what was suspected . . .

And to know that the Queen . . .

"What is it, Delores?"

She perked on hearing Lucius' concerned voice, and then she sighed. "I am just hoping that something will be done soon concerning all those poor unfortunates that felt they had no choice but to leave the Ministry's protection." A shake of the head. "Over two hundred thousand of them. Can you believe something like that, Lucius?"

"Is it really of a concern?"

"What do you mean?"

"If they chose to leave, they chose to leave," he lamented. "If they decided our good and proper society was not for them, then it would have been for the best."

"Is it really?"

"What do you mean?" he parroted her.

"An increased tax base for the Ministry to call upon," she stated. "A greater pool of working wizards and witches that could help better our society and be called upon when they're needed." He was quick to sense the real meaning behind Delores' statement: _More muggleborns and half-bloods to lord over._ "A greater sense of safety and security; we would know where EVERYONE with magic was located." She shook her head. "Too much is unknown, Lucius. It's a very frightening thought to me. It should be a frightening thought to any respectable wizard or witch in this land."

Lucius hummed. "An interesting point . . . "

* * *

Carlisle, the Malfoy mansion, later . . .

"Father, are you alright?"

Lucius perked as he looked up from his copy of the _Legis Magicus_, and then he smiled. "I was just studying this very fascinating book your brother learned of from young Miss Hirosaki, Raven," he said as he beckoned his daughter into his private study. While he did often prefer to be alone to contemplate on things, he didn't mind interruptions from either Raven or Cassiopeia; both had an uncanny ability to sense his mood and often did all they could to help make him feel better. "Where's Cassiopeia?"

"She went down to visit Ariel with Mother," Raven reported. "Aunt Lippa got her a new kneazel from Mrs. Figg; she had brought a new batch to the Magical Menagerie in Diagon a week ago. She named her 'Diana.'" Lucius tried not to smirk too much on seeing the scrunched look on his daughter's face; Raven was allergic to animal fur, something none of the healers at Saint Mungo's could try to remove. She then gazed on the book in his hands. "The _Legis Magicus_? Why are you looking over this, Father?"

"I met with Delores Umbridge earlier today at the Cauldron," he said. "Did Rose tell you of that village of squibs the muggleborn girl Perks discovered?"

Raven blinked. "Rhosan Green? Yes, she did. Ten of them were going to start classes yesterday at Hogwarts, in fact. What's wrong with that?"

A sigh. "There were other things Delores told me about. I felt it was time to reacquaint myself with some of the laws that govern our lives."

"Like what?"

"Many things." Lucius then smirked. "I'm still trying to determine what."

Raven gazed at him. "What's really wrong, Father?"

Silence.

Lucius gazed on her, and then he sighed. Try as he might, he could never really hide anything from Raven. She was just too observant. If that was some of the things she had by proxy - and even now, he simply had NO idea HOW it might have happened! - inherited from the best friend of the Traveller himself ten years before, it had both its considerable advantages and many disadvantages. And while he did feel annoyed by Raven's inquisitive nature at times, he knew she did it out of love and concern, not just for himself (even during times he never felt worthy of that love given her obvious distaste for his past actions as a Death Eater), but for all their family.

"What do you really think, Raven?" As her eyebrow arched, he stared at her. "About the Dark Lord? And what Veronica Roper is teaching now at Hogwarts?" As a senior member of the Board of Governors for Hogwarts, he had easy access to all of the teachers' syllabuses and had been totally overwhelmed by what Veronica had in mind once she had taken over History of Magic from the late Cuthbert Binns.

"It's about time."

Lucius blinked. "What do you mean?"

"That the truth of that man was revealed," Raven said before she took a deep breath and walked over to the window to gaze on the lawn around their home. "I learned it all from Rose, you know. We all did." Lucius knew that also meant Cassiopeia as well as Charlotte, Ariel and Grace. "And it just sickened me, you know. He making you all believe he was all for the preservation of the purebloods when he wasn't even one himself. A half-blood . . . a _bastard child_ atop that!" she then spat out before gazing at him with misty eyes. "And six thousand people died because of it, Father. Some at your hand, in fact." She breathed out before gazing once more on the lawn.

"You always told Drake, Cassi and I that what you did back then was the right thing. As ugly as it was, it was the RIGHT, the JUST, the NECESSARY thing to do back then." Raven sighed. "You saw a horrible threat in the normal-borns entering Hogwarts year after year and there was nothing Dumbledore was doing to make them realise what it meant to be a wizard. You saw a horrible threat with all the normals and all the advances their technology was letting them do. Fly to the Moon, build bombs that could wipe out whole cities, discover things about their very bodies which could give them a huge advantage if they learned about us and decided we were a threat." A shrug. "And maybe you were all right to panic about it and try to do something to put controls over it since the Ministry seemed to not care at all about what was happening and why.

"And then I think about people like Harry and Rose. They're both half-bloods, so they're not as 'perfect' as you think people should be, especially since they're our social equals. And I think about Harry's and Rose's mom, who did so much to save them when the Dark Lord attacked them. And I think about Grandfather Glaston . . . " - Lucius didn't mind Raven using that appelation to the late Glaston Tore - " . . . and what he did to save Rose. And ME, TOO!" she spat out again before closing her eyes.

Lucius was instantly on his feet as he moved to place hands on his daughter's shoulders as she sniffed back tears. "And I think about people like Hermione Granger and Sally-Anne Perks and all the other ones who came into our world this year," she added. "I think of how much THEY have had to SACRIFICE to start a whole new LIFE among people like us. Give up normal schooling - give up their whole WORLDVIEW! - to accept that magic is real and they can use it!" She stared up at him. "You might not think much of them, Father. I can understand; that's how Grandfather and Grandmother raised you as much as how much Grandfather Cygnus and Grandmother Druella raised Mother and Aunt Bella." She shook her head, sniffing back tears. "But I can't blind myself to what I see and feel, both when I'm awake and when I dreaming!"

Another sniff. "You think yourself as a warrior protecting your society, Father," she said as she looked away. "People like Rose and her friends see you and everyone else as TRAITORS! And treason is always punished by DEATH!" Raven then wiped her eyes. "I'm so afraid that if that **man** . . . " - She spat out that word - " . . . comes back and forces you to serve him again - or even worse, forces his will on Drake and everyone else! - then you're going to be hunted down and _killed_ like ANIMALS! I don't want that! Who WOULD want it?" Another sniff. "Excuse me."

With that, she walked out of the room. Lucius watched her go, and then he sighed before shuddering as his hand fell over the covered mark on his arm . . .

* * *

Balmoral Castle, Sunday 29 September . . .

"Your Majesty, announcing the presence of Your Majesty's Magical Shire Reeve of the Loyal County of Herefordshire, Sir William Johnathan Bone; currently accompanied by the Right Honourable the Baron Albus Pervical Wulfric Brian of the Noble Magical House of Dumbledore of Exmoor, Grand Sorcerer of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Chief Warlock of the Right Honourable the Lords Magical of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Wizengamot assembled; and Your Majesty's loyal Magical Subject, the Young Mistress Sarah Annette Perks of Ross-on-Wye in Your Loyal County of Herefordshire," the butler announced with a bow.

"Thank you. You may go."

He immediately withdrew as Albus and William bowed deeply to her and Sally-Anne, who was dressed in her formal school robes, curtseyed. "Welcome to Balmoral, Sir William, Baron Albus, Miss Perks," the Queen stated. "Please join Us."

"We are honoured to answer your summons, Your Majesty," Albus said as they made their way to a couch. "And how are you this very fine day?"

"Very pleased to hear that more of Our Magical Subjects have been found and are now being welcomed back into Our Realm after such a long absence," the Queen said. "We were taken by Dame Matilda to Rhosan Green to meet the people there yesterday. Even if they still adhere to some of those outdated, foolish beliefs of magical blood purity, they were quite relieved to know that someone had come to their rescue once the news of what happened to them got out." She gazed with delight at Sally-Anne, who was blushing to her toes. "Thanks very much to you, Sarah. Or would you prefer 'Sally-Anne?'"

"Wh-whatever you w-want, Your M-m-Majesty," the first-year girl sputtered.

William and Albus laughed. "Please forgive her, Your Majesty," the former, a bearish, muscular man who had graduated from Hogwarts in 1944 as part of Gryffindor, stated as he gazed in knowing amusement at their host. "She's still getting over the surprise Albus gave her this morning when he told her WHY she was coming here."

The Queen gaped. "Albus, I am shocked, sir! Shocked!"

"I did not wish to draw undue attention to Sally-Anne earlier than necessary, Your Majesty," Albus explained, and then he perked as the butler returned. "Oh . . . "

A deep bow. "Your Majesty, announcing the presence of Your Majesty's Magical Shire Reeve (Presumptive) of the Loyal County of Somerset, Dame Rose Jamie Potter; accompanied by Major Healer/Doctor Hamilton Colin St. John of the Royal Army Medical Corps, retired; both currently accompanying the Young Mistress Perks' parents, Captain Reginald David Perks of the Fifth Battalion, the Light Infantry; and Lieutenant Fay Dana Perks of the Fifty-seventh Signal Squadron, Royal Corps of Signals."

Sally-Anne gaped. "Mom! Dad!"

Everyone smiled as Sally-Anne's parents and their guide came into the room, Rose then stopping to curtsey while Hamilton, David (he preferred "Dave") and Fay saluted; all were in their Number Two service dress uniforms. "Welcome, Dame Rose, Major St. John, Captain Perks, Lieutenant Perks," the Queen said before her eyes focused on the two non-magical officers. "I trust it was an easy trip from Ross-on-Wye?"

"Rose and Major St. John made it easy for us, Your Majesty," Fay - seeing her, Albus was quick to see where Sally-Anne got her looks - said as she grasped the Queen's hand. "A most incredible travel system, this Floo network. A pity it can't be used by normal people like us. Having it would do wonders for the country."

"Pollution and all that, Your Majesty," Dave added.

The Queen perked. "Ah, yes! Sir William told me you are a forester in your civilian life," she said as they were beckoned to nearby chairs, Hamilton, Dave and Fay removing their berets as they took their seats and Rose sitting beside William. "How goes the work in restoring the Forest of Dean? I rarely see any detailed announcements or reports from the Forestry Commission, so I'm not sure what is going on."

"Quite well, I'm pleased to say, ma'am," Dave replied. "I can gladly report that the team I'm a part of is taken well to many of the ideas your son, the Prince of Wales, has advocated when it comes to increasing the biodiversity of the Forest." He then smirked. "As a matter of fact, people like Sir William here are pitching in to help. As I'm sure you're aware, ma'am, there are many witches and wizards living among normals like us in the villages around the Forest. Some actually work for our team in the Forest; they all revealed themselves to me after Sally got her invitation."

"Aren't they concerned about the Statue of Secrecy?" Albus asked, his eyes wide.

"Grandpapa, once they swear the Loyal Oath, they're bound by their magic to obey the laws of the land as recognised by Her Majesty," Rose reminded him. "That includes fully acknowledging the Statue of Secrecy as that's part of the Separation Act."

The headmaster blinked, and then he breathed out. "Oh, yes. I did forget that, Rose. Thank you for reminding me of that." He turned back to Dave. "Forgive me, David, but I'm somewhat confused. Sarah told me you are a forester, yet you're in a military uniform right now. And Her Majesty's servant announced you as being part of the 'Fifth Battalion' of this 'Light Infantry.' I don't understand . . . "

Dave chuckled while Fay and Sally-Anne both grinned. "I can understand your confusion, Headmaster. Sally-Anne's told me of how little people like you know about normal society. My wife and I are part of what's called the 'Territorial Army.' We're reserve soldiers, in other words. We don't soldier full-time as Major St. John here did when he served under Field Marshal Montgomery during the Second World War, but I am still a soldier bearing Her Majesty's commission as an infantry officer and Fay here is also a soldier bearing Her Majesty's commission as a signals officer."

"'Signals?'" Albus asked, clearly fascinated by what Dave had just said.

"Professor, you use the Floo network also as a form of communications as well as a form of teleportation travel, don't you?" Fay asked. As Albus nodded, she then smiled. "My job is, in effect, to help maintain communications - to maintain OUR versions of the Floo, in other words - for both the military and the government."

Albus then nodded. "Ah, I see. Thank you for making that comparison; I truly understand now. And what do you do when you're not in uniform?"

"Just be a housewife and mother to Sally-Anne and Kelly," Fay replied.

"I already took the liberty of giving Kelly the Neuwied Test, Albus," William added. "She scored 132 points, which could go up over the next few years."

"She'll be eleven in 1995," Sally-Anne added.

Albus beamed. "Well, I hope to see her come to Hogwarts when her time comes. In the meantime, I do believe we are infringing on the Queen's time, so let's return the floor back to her." He nodded to their host. "My apologies, Your Majesty."

"Oh, don't apologise, Albus. It's actually quite fascinating for me to watch people from different societies in this land interact as you've just done," the Queen said as she rose. "In the meantime, Sarah, will you join me, please?"

"Yes, ma'am," Sally-Anne said as she stood up.

Everyone else rose as the Queen moved over to a raised dais beside a table where a royal blue pillow sat, it holding the rose-pink bow ribbon bearing the silver cross patonce topped with a Tutor crown, emblazoned with images of the Queen's grandfather and grandmother in their robes of state with their crowns, all within a circlet declaring the motto of the Order of the British Empire, **FOR GOD AND THE EMPIRE**. Having remembered seeing investiture ceremonies on television many times before, Sally-Anne placed herself before the Queen at a distance of a metre, standing still as William and Rose placed themselves to either side of the Sovereign. The others in the room all formed a line behind Sally-Anne as William then cleared his throat before announcing: "Miss Sarah Annette Perks, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire."

Sally-Anne curtseyed, and then she walked up to place herself before the Queen. The older woman smiled as she picked up the bowed ribbon, and then gently clasped it onto the young girl's cloak. "Mistress Sarah, for helping bring Our lost Magical Subjects back to where they belong, you have Our Eternal Thanks."

She perked, and then deeply bowed. "It was my pleasure, Your Majesty."

Everyone then applauded as Sally-Anne then stepped back to curtsey again . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	14. The Voice of the People

Hogwarts, the Great Hall, later . . .

"Hey! There she . . . OH, MY GOD!"

People perked on hearing Hermione's shout, and then turned as the door to the Great Hall opened to allow Sally-Anne to walk inside, currently being escorted by a smiling Albus. "Sally-Anne! What on . . .?" Megan began before gasping as her eyes locked on the beautiful ribbon currently hanging from her housemate's cloak. "Oh, MY!"

"What?" Draco demanded before he looked over, and then he blinked before turning back to Hermione. "What IS that, Hermione?"

"The insignia of a Member of the Order of the British Empire," she explained before turning back to stare at Sally-Anne and Albus. "But why . . .?"

"Was it because of us?"

Eyes locked on Libera - all of the first years from Rhosan Green were seated with everyone else as they were enjoying supper when their classmate and the headmaster had come back - before turning back to a blushing Sally-Anne. "It was," she said. "Her Majesty wanted to thank me personally for helping get you people free of those house elves that had trapped you and your families for so long." She then stared at Harry. "Harry, what's this about you REFUSING to get this as well, you prat?"

Jaws dropped as scandalised looks crossed the faces of all those who had been raised either entirely or in part in normal society. "Harry, you refused the QUEEN?" Achelois gasped. "Why on Earth did you do THAT, for Heaven's sake?"

Harry sighed. "Achelois, if it was ME that ran into Libera and her sisters and all her friends in the Forest of Dean - and IF the Queen judged me worthy! - I would have been pleased to been invested. But it was SALLY-ANNE who was the one who - both by her desire to be friends with Libera, her sisters and friends AND by helping with her magic to keep the 'breach' open for Aunt Matilda and Uncle Bill to go in there and clean the mess left by those elves! - did that, so she deserved what she received! I'm not going to steal it away from her! That's not fair to her whatsoever!"

Sally-Anne blushed even more on hearing that. Gazing at Harry, many of his peers and many of the older students and teachers who were listening in on this conversation all began to nod in agreement and approval. "So what does a medal like that mean, Professor?" Blaise then asked as he looked on Albus.

"It is one of the muggles' several equivalents to our own Order of Merlin, Mister Zabini," Albus explained. "The Order of the British Empire was established by the Queen's grandfather, King George V, in 1917 while they were fighting the Great War as a way of filling in a gap that existed between various other orders of chivalry and special bravery decorations like the Victoria Cross. In Miss Perks' case, her actions - as Mister Potter so eloquently described - saw to it that your cousins (who WERE effectively imprisoned against their wills!) and their friends were freed to live their lives under THEIR control. To be a Member of the Order of the British Empire, as Miss Perks is, is equal to holding a third class Order of Merlin. A worthy award, indeed."

"But Professor, since Sarah saw to it that wizards and witches were freed of such a ghastly imprisonment, why didn't the Ministry AWARD her an Order of Merlin?" Percy then demanded as he came up to join them, Penelope at his side.

Sally-Anne gazed in open amusement at the prefect. "Percy, it's quite simple: I'm a _mudblood_, remember? The Ministry - or at least a lot of the people AT the Ministry - really don't care for people like me in the long term!"

Percy gaped. "That's OUTRAGEOUS!"

Penelope laughed. "Don't worry about it, Percy!"

He turned on her. "Why not?"

The Ravenclaw prefect winked. "Didn't you hear what Sally-Anne's own mother once advised her to do? And what she DID to Libera's mother when she called her that?"

Percy blinked, and then he smirked. "Oh! I did forget that!"

Laughter escaped most of the people seated nearby, and then Sally-Anne gazed on Albus. "Um, Professor, what about the goblins, sir?"

He perked. "What do you mean, Miss Perks?"

"Well, Sir William said it was a goblin metalsmith that made the medal for the Queen and placed all the charms on the medal to make it as endurable as an Order of Merlin medal. I know how goblins view anything made by their hands, sir . . . "

A chuckle. "And it is a good thing that you ARE keeping such in mind, Miss Perks. Don't worry about it, though. I asked Chief Director Ragnok about this when Sir William told me where the medal was coming from. In _this_ case, since the medal IS one awarded by the Queen - the descendant of the man who promulgated the Magical Royal Proclamation of the Noble Tribes in 1815, King George III - the questions of ownership are waived off." He then indicated Libera and her friends from Rhosan Green. "As a matter of fact, since your actions ALSO freed the magical heirs and heiresses of several quite wealthy vault holders - whose holdings were frozen at Ministry order when they 'disappeared' from public view, thus NOT gaining any sort of interest or being properly invested in various markets - Ragnok told me he would gladly declare you a True Goblin Friend for helping further enhance the wealth of Gringotts."

Sally-Anne blinked, and then she smiled. "Well, if you can, Professor, please tell the Chief Director that I will be glad to be acknowledged as such when I'm next in Diagon and can visit him or any of his representatives in Gringotts."

"I will do so, Miss Perks."

Applause then echoed from many of Sally-Anne's friends as she moved to eat . . .

* * *

The Hufflepuff dorms, later . . .

"It doesn't really seem much, when you think of it."

Sally-Anne smirked. "Professor, don't worry about it. Believe me, out in normal society, we don't make a huge production of being awarded an honour by the Queen these days, especially at my level." She and Pomona were now standing in front of the dais where the Hufflepuff Good Book stood near the front of the common room. While it didn't have the many defensive charms that the Slytherin version bestowed on those who were sorted into that house, the Good Book was still a magical, self-updating text. As witness what the herbology professor had discovered when she looked on the book after she had been called to gaze on it by a fifth-year prefect. Sally-Anne's name - which, like all those others who had sworn the Loyal Oath to the Crown, was followed by the Royal Cypher - now had the silver insignia of the Order of the British Empire beside it. "In normal society, if I get a business card printed up, I would have my name written down as 'Sarah Annette Perks, M.B.E.' That's the way it's done."

Pomona hummed, nodding in approval. "A simple statement. I like it." She then gazed on Sally-Anne. "In the meantime, you best be heading to bed, Miss Perks."

The younger girl grinned. "Good night, Professor."

With that, she headed into the girls' dorms and made her way into hers and Libera's bedroom. The dark-skinned witch - currently as naked as a jaybird; Sally-Anne's several attempts over the last week at making her stop "going commando" when she wore her normal uniform hadn't got very far - was in the midst of writing a letter. "What did the House Mother desire of you, Sarah?" she asked as Sally-Anne called on the _Kokujun_ to seal off the curtains, and then she moved to undress.

"Oh, she noticed that a magical mark of my M.B.E. showed up in the Good Book beside my name, so she called me over to tell me about it," Sally-Anne said as she moved to hang up her uniform on a rack that would inform the house elves that she would desire it cleaned and pressed at their earliest convenience; it normally happened during the daytime while people were in classes. "So what are you writing?"

"A letter to Mother and Father announcing what happened to you today."

"Oh? How are they going to react to the news?"

"Most likely, they'll thank the ghosts of Merlin and Morganna that you were NOT awarded an Order of Merlin for your actions due to your 'unclean' blood."

Sally-Anne blinked, and then she sighed. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"What?"

"Their calling me 'mudblood?'"

Libera sighed as she placed her quill down. "It does to an extent. Much that they did try to make my sisters and I believe what they were raised to believe by their parents, it never made sense to me. Magic is a gift from the Great Powers." Sally-Anne knew the phrase "Great Powers" served as Libera's way of viewing what the normal-born student thought of as "God" and Chikage called by that strange alien word "Te'a." "If They choose to bestow it upon a child born of muggles such as yourself, Justin, Megan or Hermione, that is Their Choice and it is not our place to question such a choice. If They choose to not bestow the Gift of Magic on one born of 'pure' blood, that is also Their Choice and we should not question it." She shrugged. "Father and Mother understand what I believe and know they have no real power to try to change my beliefs, much less those of my sisters. The others' parents are the same."

Sally-Anne frowned. "I don't want you to lose your parents over that."

Libera smiled. "And that is why I care for you, Sarah."

The blonde blinked, and then she sighed. "Okay, then."

The other girl looked confused. "What do you mean?"

A smirk. "We're sleeping together from now on."

Libera's jaw dropped, and then she smiled, her eyes misting over with an explosion of delight as she rose up and gently drew the other girl into her arms, her lips seeking out Sally-Anne's as they sank onto the latter's bed . . .

* * *

Outside the closed bedroom space, a tired Chikage was making her way to her own bedroom before she paused on sensing something from Sally-Anne's and Libera's room. As the traveller looked over, her _ki_ senses probed through the magical screen that had been forged ultimately from her own grandfather's genius, and then she blinked before shaking her head and heading into her own space, a smile crossing her face . . .

* * *

And time moved on . . .

As September finally passed into October, a routine of sorts settled in for the group that had gathered around the Boy-Who-Lived and the Second Traveller. Attend all classes and perform with as much competence as possible, while avoiding attempts by some of their peers to provoke some of the rivalries that often haunted inter-house relations, especially when it came to the long-standing "feud" between the Lions' Den and the Serpents' Den. This made classes in Potions, for example, all the more enjoyable as Harry, Brianna, Aesup and Hermione, now accompanied by Nyx and Bellona - with Lavender and Parvati later joining the crowd - gladly and willingly partnered up with classmates from Slytherin. That was something that - if it wasn't for Neville's many accidents - actually earned Gryffindor many points for both competent work and an eye for safety that not only prevented many trips to the Hospital Wing but also kept attempts at pranking either side (much to Severus' relief) to a bare minimum.

Other classes were very much the same way. Transfiguration remained a hard topic for many people, especially when it came to the normal-borns and how their new exposure to magic was clashing badly with their strong beliefs in science into defining what was truly "real" in their eyes. Here, people like Harry, Brianna, Aesup, Achelois, Camellia, Marian, Jane, Wayne and Sǔ - and Chikage as well - took the lead by drawing on their own past experiences living in the "frontier world" between the normal and the magical to allow people such as Hermione, Sally-Anne and Justin to better draw within their minds on understanding what they were doing.

"This is a variation of psychokinesis as it would be defined by some fantasy and science fiction writers," Chikage explained during one class when the normal-borns in her house were having problems with basic metal-to-wood transformation. "You're using magic - in effect, the power of your mind - to transform the atoms and molecules of the needle into atoms and molecules to make a matchstick. Think of it that way."

That class saw the beginning of a noticeable improvement in the performances of the normal-borns, a giddy Minerva would later report in a staff meeting.

Herbology and Charms remained the favourite classes as much for the Gryffindors and Slytherins as it was for the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws. While respect and genuine affection for one's head-of-house was more than understandable, it also helped that Pomona was a very motherly woman who was always quite kind even when she was doling out punishments for doing things wrong; and Filius proved that being part-goblin didn't mean that he allowed any sign of their normal disdain for humans to affect his teaching skill. Furthermore, as a retired master duellist, he was doing more to prepare his charges for dealing with all sorts of potential threats in Charms than what was SUPPOSED to be taught to everyone in Defence Against the Dark Arts.

D.A.D.A. remained the joke class of the year given Quirinus Quirrell's stuttering and frightened nature even with the most patient of his students. That, by the turn of the month, eventually drove the first years in all the houses to begin deep self-study sessions in their house common rooms or in the library as they hunted down texts to better understand the menagerie of dark creatures they could potentially face in the future, especially for those who might want to explore a career in handling dragons (like Ron's second-oldest brother Charlie, who worked in Romania at a preserve) or other such creatures that might provide a menace to magical and normal alike.

Atop the "core" classes that everyone would take for all seven years they would attend Hogwarts, there was also the weekly classes in Astronomy . . .

* * *

The Astronomy Tower, Saturday 5 October, after midnight . . .

"I think I may have it," Chikage announced.

To ensure that poor Aurora Sinistra wouldn't totally burn herself out teaching her subject at multiple times in the late evenings, Astronomy classes were gathered together by year all at once. The first years - since they all had Friday afternoons off - attended a straight three-period class from eleven o'clock every Friday to 1:25 the following Saturday morning (this would allow everyone to sleep in at the start of the weekend). And while the initial classes were quite fun for everyone as they got to use their telescopes to search out the nearby celestial bodies and confirm (for the normal-borns) what agencies like NASA and Roskosmos had been saying for years, the revelation they would be studying the _Mundus Magicus_ in sixth year History of Magic launched everyone towards finding the elusive tenth planet in the solar system.

"How can you see it, Chikage?" Hermione asked.

"It's not as hard as one might think, Hermione," the traveller noted as she adjusted the range-finger on her telescope - which was ONE particular object that, when she had purchased it in Diagon back in August, had really impressed her since it was clearly the equal of anything made for normals - before gazing on her PADD, which was now showing a star chart of the orbits of Earth, Mars and the hidden planet between them, the date and time at the top of the screen. "Even if normal astronomers couldn't find it because they don't understand stellar metaphysics, it isn't so phased out of this plane of reality that a little bit of magic can't find it." She reached over to gently adjust her focus before gazing through her eyepiece. "I have to complement the people who made these telescopes," she then mused. "They're excellent."

"I'll remember to pass that on to my parents," Daphne said.

Laughter filled the Astronomy Tower. "Hey, Harry! There's a good place to invest your family fortune when you get the chance!" Draco said.

"I'll remember that when I speak to Uncle Erlking next, Draco," Harry said as he peered through his telescope, and then he tensed. "Wait . . .!"

Everyone looked at him as he adjusted his focus, all silent as he took a look before he whooped. "Got it!" he called out. "I can see it!"

"Alright, everyone! Remain still while I cast something to allow you all to focus on where Harry is looking at now!" Aurora - a very pretty witch with the same regal type of beauty Irma Pince possessed - said as she drew out her wand.

A whispered charm later, a beam of energy seemed to emit from the end of Harry's telescope into the night sky over Scotland. People immediately adjusted their own telescopes to follow that beacon of light into the stars and what lay out there.

"I got it!" Hermione then called out.

"Me, too!" Lisa added. "Oh, Merlin! It's _beautiful!_"

"To believe we're looking at a whole WORLD!" Libera breathed out.

"Indeed. Most impressive!" Erebus noted.

"Does anyone have a map?" Tracey asked. "What are we looking at?"

"The western hemisphere," Sǔ answered. "Everyone see that big bunch of city lights on the west side of that continent we're seeing?"

"What are those places, Sǔ?" Mòrag asked.

"The cities of the Northern Federation: Eos, Tristan, Orestes, Clytemnestra and Megalo-Mesembria. Or at least that's how the names go in our language," Sǔ explained.

"Are they really the names of those places, friend Sǔ?" Tara asked.

"That's them," the Chinese witch affirmed with a nod.

"It's weird that their names are so similar to names we might be familiar with," Blaise mused before he looked over. "Any idea why, Chikage?"

A shake of the head. "I really can't say, Blaise. Grandfather's and Grand-uncle's initial contact with Ariadne in 1936 was the first known encounter between the worlds in this dimension. Perhaps there might have been earlier contacts that were simply forgotten as history marched on. It's always possible." A hum. "I'll just have to wait for my fourth summer here when I go there myself to visit Ariadne."

"Can we come with you?" Mandy asked.

"Will your parents allow it, Amanda?"

Many of the students there moaned. "Good point," Seamus noted.

Laughter filled the tower . . .

* * *

The Vanished Wing, Sunday 6 October . . .

"And here it is!"

Chikage's head turned up from the notes she was looking at, and then she smiled on noting that Pansy wasn't alone in coming to the northwest classroom today. "Earl Parkinson, Countess Parkinson, we meet at last," she said as she turned the heater down on the cauldron - she was in the midst of brewing one of the potions that went into _Aelf Evolutio_ - before walking over, hand out. "I'm Chikage Hirosaki."

"A pleasure to make you acquaintance, Miss Hirosaki. And please, there's no need for titles," Malcolm Parkinson said as he took Chikage's hand and gave it a courtly kiss. He was the same age as Severus Snape - as was his wife; they had all been year-mates - with the black hair and brown eyes that Pansy and Michael had. Whipcord lean and clearly quite healthy, he had an all-knowing look on his face. That was understandable; he had been a Ravenclaw while at Hogwarts (most of his line, as well as his wife's, had typically been Slytherins) and his performance at school had earned him many awards even if he had never been a prefect or Head Boy.

"You seem to be doing well for being sorted into Hufflepuff," Gruoch then said as she took Chikage's hand. A very regal-looking woman, also with black hair and brown eyes, she had been the Slytherin of Pansy's parents. Ironically, the former Gruoch Fowler had broken several conventions when she had been attending Hogwarts, as witness her open and accepting friendship to the-then Lily Evans in Gryffindor.

"It does not matter what house I was sorted in, Mrs. Parkinson," Chikage said as she beckoned them to nearby chairs. "Sir Alastair judged my loyalty to family as the first and foremost of my attributes. Hence, Hufflepuff." She turned up the heater under the cauldron. "So I assume you're here to take Pansy out on her birthday."

"We're not as exuberant when it comes to celebrating birthdays as we've heard muggleborns like your friend Miss Granger do," Gruoch mused. "But thanks to your preparedness ahead of time when it came to understanding the _Regula Hogwarts_, we all learned that it was quite alright for parents to come see their children on special occasions like their birthdays once it was cleared through the Headmaster."

Chikage's eyebrow arched. "He doesn't trust either of you, I take it."

The elder Parkinsons looked quite impressed. "You're observant," Malcolm mused.

A smile. "I'm Japanese. It's a virtue amongst my people." She then gave him a look. "Why is that, anyway? You never allied with Tom during his uprising; as a matter of fact, you stayed totally neutral during that late unpleasantness."

"It's because we WERE neutral during that war," Malcolm stated. "Many people didn't take the time to sit back and think about what was happening. Which is quite understandable; with people dying - and, of course, the true number of witches and wizards in Britain was believed to be a lot smaller than it actually was - all around them, too many were absorbed in the 'here-and-now' to take a moment, sit back and see the bigger picture. Atop that, we're just too wealthy. Riddle's people didn't want to upset us out of fear that we would ally with the Order of the Phoenix if they pushed us too far. At the same time, Albus' people felt the same way. Make too many demands and we'd side with Riddle." A shrug. "I was forced to take the reins of Father's company almost right out of Hogwarts. My concern at the time was making sure everyone that was employed by us - magical and muggle alike - were safe and doing their jobs. My wife and I both knew that it would have blown over sooner or later. Now that I know of the Magical Sheriffs, I know Riddle wouldn't have succeeded in the end run."

"True, he wouldn't have," Chikage mused.

"What are you making?" Michael asked.

"A variation of Polyjuice Grandfather came up with as part of the process he designed for the Elf Evolution," she reported as everyone came up to look at it.

"I heard about that," Malcolm then said. "Would you be willing to let one of the potions masters I employ get a look at those notes? There are a lot of house elves bonded to my family who would definitely benefit from this, especially given how much of a power boost I've heard this process ultimately gives them."

"Do you have experts in charms working for you as well?"

"You're looking at two of them," Grouch mused with pride as she gazed on her husband, who immediately looked sheepish. As Michael and Pansy both laughed, she then turned back to Chikage. "Name your price," she then said.

"I will not condone a monopoly, Mrs. Parkinson," Chikage then warned as she stared at Pansy's mother. "The process was a gift my grandfather made to the people of Britain. Are you asking me to bring shame to my grandfather's gift?"

As Gruoch gaped, Malcolm laughed. "Dear, don't forget: This is the same woman who gladly gave away a hundred thousand galleons - fifty thousand of that as a mere CONTRACT BONUS! - just to have that dōjō set up in the southeast classroom."

"Lord Parkinson, PLEASE!" a familiar voice cackled from the doorway. "Don't discourage the Young Traveller when she does business! It's ALWAYS profitable!"

Everyone looked over. "A most profitable day to you, Director Erlking," Chikage said as she walked over, bowing properly to the elder goblin.

He responded with a bow. "And a most profitable day to you as well, Lady Hirosaki," Erlking said before presenting her with a wrapped box. "As you requested."

She smirked. "You didn't need to deliver this personally."

"On the contrary, my dear," he said, grinning. "Given that it was my own aunt that did this for you, I was more than happy to be the delivery boy."

Chikage perked. "Was your aunt the one . . .?"

"She was."

"Ah! When I get the chance - the Christmas holidays sounds like a good time - I'll come visit her to thank her personally for her good work," she said before turning to Pansy. "Happy birthday, Pansy. Many happy returns of the day."

Pansy blinked, and then she blushed as she took the present. "Um, th-thanks!" she sputtered before immediately turning to a nearby desk so she could open it.

And sure enough, it was another model of the Spiral, virtually the same as what Hermione received some days before. "My Heavens!" Gruoch breathed out as she, Malcolm and Michael came up to gaze upon it. "And the real Spiral is almost two miles high?"

"Two-point-five kilometres," Chikage explained as Malcolm turned the model around to get a better look at it. "Just a little over a mile and a half high."

"Twenty-two months," Michael breathed out.

Chikage stared at him. "He had help."

"I can't imagine something like this," Malcolm noted.

"I actually saw the image of it the day the Lady Hirosaki first came to us," Erlking reported. "It towers over anything I have ever seen, even on the _Mundus Magicus_! To believe Elder Hirosaki felt it so necessary to build such a thing . . .!"

"Well, when you have a rather large earthquake that kills two million people in the space of an hour or so, drastic measures are sometimes required," Chikage noted.

Jaws dropped. "I don't want to even think about it," Pansy noted before she grinned and moved to embrace the traveller. "Thank you so much, Chikage."

Chikage remained still, though an eyebrow did arch in curiosity. "In the meantime, I do have to get back to my studies," she then said as she pulled away from Pansy. "And I'm sure there's a wonderful meal and a little shopping trip in Hogsmeade that awaits the birthday girl, so I won't keep you away from that." She then stared at Malcolm. "I'll duplicate and translate Grandfather's notes as soon as I can."

"Fair enough," Malcolm said as he took her hand.

After parting from Gruoch, Michael and Pansy, Chikage then headed back to her cauldron as the Parkinsons left the room. Erlking watched them go, and then he turned to stare knowingly at the traveller. "You sensed it, didn't you?"

"I did. I'm curious as to why, though," she mused.

"She is the daughter of two very wealthy people, Lady Hirosaki. And not just simply wealthy people, but people who can easily seize the tiller of the economy in this world with very little to stop them, much less hinder them. That desire alone is reason enough to drive a lot of people," the goblin reminded her.

"Indeed," the traveller breathed out . . .

* * *

And classes carried on . . .

By the time October began, History of Magic was easily rated as one of the top favourite classes for everyone in the first year, regardless of house. Not only was Veronica Roper a talented teacher and as engaging in her own way to her students as Pomona Sprout was in the greenhouses, she also did her best to put her charges into the very shoes of people like Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin as, a thousand years before, they struggled hard to bring together a chaotic and disjoined system of magical apprenticeships and verbal learning spanning the late Heptarchy and its companion kingdoms and realms across the British Isles into a single institution that could serve all blessed with the power of magic throughout Great Britain and Ireland. And, by extension, created a whole vibrant culture that would eventually mature into the modern "wizarding world" as people knew it today.

There were the several surprises, of course, especially when it came to the revelations of the truth behind the famous feud between Godric and Salazar which forced the latter to leave his friends and strike off on his own for the rest of his life. And while there were the expected protests of disbelief from people like Draco and Ron, the bringing in of the Bloody Baron and the Grey Lady to class one week cooled off everyone as the students there finally learned of how a tragic and unrequited love by the former for the latter had led to such an awful end for them both.

And reflected hard on a sense of ostracisation which those of the Serpents' Den would eventually feel from the other houses in Hogwarts which, in a way, had factored in quite heavily throughout the history of the wizarding world in Britain ever since.

"If you can learn from what happened to myself when I was alive, my young lords and ladies . . . " the Baron said to one Thursday afternoon class in early October to the Ravenclaws and Slytherins, " . . . then perhaps the horrid pain unleashed by the man who styled himself a 'dark lord' and rose up against the Crown a decade ago will vanish once and for all. If that happens, then even if the Lady Helena and I must continue to live our after-years in our own purgatories, we will be happy for we know those who followed the true ways of my master and her mother have rediscovered them."

"Think of your futures and your children's futures," the Grey Lady added. "For so long, Ælfweard and I - as well as Friar Simon and Nicholas when they came to join us later on - have watched generation after generation perpetuate such mindless and petty hatreds that have hurt and killed many. This was NOT what Mother and her friends wanted when this school was built. Here, we are meant to come TOGETHER, not be forced apart. Do you wish to expend such power in hatred? I think - and pray - not."

* * *

In the wake of that, even the "manly" members of the class were nearly driven to tears over such a heartfelt plea from the woman many of their number had now come to no longer address as "the Grey Lady" or even with the formal "Lady Helena" . . .

. . . but simply as "Grand-aunt Helena."

* * *

October also saw the beginnings of tryouts for the school quidditch teams as the playing season approached. And while Harry stuck to his promise that he would not play no matter what a teary-eyed Oliver Wood tried to do to persuade him otherwise, others of his year - now that they had brooms and had proven to be able to use them to Rolanda Hooch - were ready to do all they could to win places. With the infusion of fresh new blood now that first years WERE allowed to play the sport, Oliver's protests fell to the wayside as he began teaching Ron (who became a reserve keeper) and Dean (who joined up as a reserve chaser) the ins and outs of the game at the school level.

Unknown to almost everyone though, even in Gryffindor, Harry did help the team captain recognise another potential player to take the seeker post: Nyx Letum, who had proven a natural on a broom the instant she first mounted it in the initial flying class taught to the natives of Rhosan Green a week after their arrival at Hogwarts. As soon as they saw what she could do with a broom, Oliver - along with Minerva McGonagall - quickly reset their original plan for Harry to Nyx, which got her a Nimbus 2000 broom so she could become the new Gryffindor seeker on the REGULAR team.

While this was going on, the other houses gladly didn't stint on that as well once people proved themselves capable of handling brooms. Draco, Vincent, Gregory and Millicent got onto the reserve Slytherin team while Zacharias joined the reserve Hufflepuff team and Terry, Anthony and Michael joined the reserve Ravenclaws.

To better promote greater interest in the game now that more people were practicing and willing to show they wanted to play, Rolanda then proposed that all the houses field TWO complete teams so that everyone who wanted to play could. To ensure the competition for the Quidditch Cup would remain spirited and alive, she announced on a Monday morning that there would be two games played on the regularly-scheduled dates, with the reserve teams for the houses not playing the regular games going up against each other. "Who knows?" the former Wimbourne Wasps chaser stated. "This year, it just might be the reserve team of your house that wins the Quidditch Cup!"

A roaring cheer echoed through the Great Hall in response . . .

* * *

The Vanished Wing, Sunday 27 October . . .

"So this is the place where your grandfather created the 'evil stones,' eh?"

"Yes, it is," Chikage said as she gazed in veiled amusement at Ceres Meretrice. The quints' mother was still a most strikingly beautiful woman of about forty or so. Unlike her husband Ares, who was currently accompanied by Blaise Zabini (it was the young Slytherin's first time in this part of the school), Ceres was quite fair-skinned; her family, the Marcells, were descent of the many clans, both normal and magical, who had migrated to England from Normandy after the Conquest of 1066. "Mrs. Meretrice, I'll take time during my stay to visit your village so I can examine whatever damage the elves might have done to the ley lines passing under and near Rhosan Green. The sooner things return to what should be 'normalcy' for you people, the better."

The quints' parents - the quints themselves, along with their friends, were in the northwest classroom with the door sealed as they observed pensieve testimonies from the six candidates for the newly created position of Chief Constable of the Loyal Magical Village of Rhosan Green before they would make their vote in the northeast classroom, where a ballot box had been set up - both stared at her. "Forgive me, Lady Chikage, but surely someone of your great skill and power has much more pressing matters to concern yourself with than visiting our poor village," Ares stated.

"Mr. Meretrice, I am under very ancient obligations my society demands of me to do whatever I can to make my stay here as prosperous not just for myself, but for all those around me," Chikage stated as she stared at him. "True, my grandfather had nothing to do with what happened to you and your fellow villagers as the events happened well over eighty years before he ever came to this dimension. But he did gift the power of the _Kokujun_ to ALL the living beings resident in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. That includes everyone from Rhosan Green. In his examinations of the Forest of Dean, he did notice the considerable amount of ley lines there. I now suspect that what the elves of your village did to you may have damaged some of them. The idea of such damage being left unrepaired is a repugnant . . . "

The doors of the northwest classroom then opened, allowing ten people to emerge. Awaiting them by the door was Matilda Godwine. As the students faced her, the Magical Sheriff of Gloucestershire then asked, "Have you made your decisions?"

"We have, My Lady Sheriff," Libera announced for them all.

"Very well, then. You will enter the northeast classroom one at a time," Matilda said as she waved to the classroom in question, watched over by Sandra Kellery. "At the ballot boxes, you will make your choices known for the position of Chief Constable of the Loyal Magical Wick of Rhosan Green as well as your decision in the referendum concerning the position of the Loyal Magical Wick of Rhosan Green vis-à-vis Her Majesty's Ministry of Magic. Once you make your choice, deposit the ballots in the boxes through the slots marked with which ballot has to go where, and then leave the classroom. You will remain in the main hall until everyone votes."

The students bowed. "It will be as you command, My Lady Sheriff," Libera said.

They headed over, forming a row as Sandra proceeded to verify their identities before she would allow them to enter the classroom. Watching this, Blaise hummed before he turned to Chikage. "«_May I speak to you privately?_»" he asked in Italian.

Chikage nodded, beckoning him to the northwest classroom. Matilda had already gone inside to shrink down the pensieve she had brought with her for transport back to her private work area at the Chedworth Tower, close to the magical village of Glevum Coliseum, just outside the urban area of Gloucester. Once the Magical Sheriff of Gloucestershire had left the room, Chikage closed the door. "What is it?"

"I'm curious," he noted.

"Of what?"

"The Magical Sheriffs," Blaise mused. "If they've been in existence for all this time, why keep their existence secret from people such as Mother and myself?" He, his mother Vanessa Zabini and his stepfather Stefan Martin had recently sworn the Loyal Oath; Blaise had done it two days ago thanks to Peter Young while his parents had been "welcomed into the club" by Hogan Roper thanks to arrangements made by Jane Roper. "Most wizards and witches would welcome their presence in all our lives."

A sigh. "Believe it or not, Blaise, my grandfather often asked the same question." As he smirked, she paused for a moment as she considered what to say, and then she gazed at him. "You have to remember what was happening in normal society when the Separation Act was passed and the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1692 was made. There were a lot of normals who didn't like the idea of their 'pet' wizards and witches fleeing from their grasp, then turning around and obliviating them of their existence without any means of stopping them or getting them back under some sort of control. Moves to keep groups of wizards under nominal normal control were strife throughout the United Kingdoms at the time. The first generation of Magical Shire Reeves - people like Sir Glanmore Peakes, for example - were often quite busy sneaking up on normal lords and other such people to perform the necessary obliviations so that wizards and their families could get away and move into safe havens all across the British Isles. So to ensure the success of such an operation, a little subterfuge was employed."

He grinned. "Calling them 'Magistrates Magical' instead of 'Magical Shire Reeves' or 'Magical Sheriffs' when their position was mentioned in the Separation Act."

"Exactly. It made sure that those normals who did want to keep the magicals under their thumbs - especially if they had connections among the magicals who were being forced by whatever means to continue to answer to them - wouldn't realise what was happening until it was far too late to stop it," she said. "That was a good thing, but when the main work was finally done, people like Sir Glanmore soon discovered there was MUCH more going on magically in the British Isles that even the Wizards' Council then fully knew. Since they were assigned by county and thus had a precise area of responsibility they could visit virtually at whim, people like Sir Glanmore became intensely acquainted with all that was going on within their areas of responsibility."

She then sighed. "And there, Blaise, is where, I believe, the 'gap' between 'mainstream' wizarding society and the 'frontier world' between the magicals and the normals ultimately began to develop. To many, people like Sir Glanmore became the ONLY public face of the Sovereigns, the supreme magical authority in the United Kingdoms. And since they were sworn by their MAGIC and their LIVES to be as unprejudiced as possible when it came to dealing with all they might encounter, their openness and acceptance made them much more agreeable to the normal wizard or other magical being out there. And since they were only answerable to the Sovereigns, when certain attitudes became prominent in 'mainstream' wizarding society, those who didn't agree with it . . . "

"'Voted with their feet' - or in this case, swore a Loyal Oath to the Crown - and allowed the Magical Sheriffs to become their overall guardians." He then chuckled as something then came to him. "And as time went on, it got to the point where people in 'mainstream' society began to believe that British magical society was dying out for some odd reason. The rational ones realized that closing out the muggleborns from society was a really stupid thing to do and moved to welcome them in."

"With the understandable and completely acceptable desire to ensure they fully fit in," she augmented. "But when people began to press for change, a reaction happened. It's as true within the laws of magic as it is in the laws of science. Any action creates an equal and opposite reaction. Newcomers to society pressed for their own rights, the 'landed gentry' refused to give a centimetre and friction began. Tom's rebellion was the natural outcome of such a thing." She sighed. "Blaise, don't think your swearing the Loyal Oath means you have to embrace normal-borns and their ways wholesale. I find things about normal society disquieting. But people like Hermione and Sarah have every right to learn what was gifted to them by the Te'a within reason. That is the premise of this school. That is the premise of the Ministry of Magic, in fact. The thing Grandfather found shocking was that so many have blinded themselves to that simple premise. If it becomes too great . . . " She then shook her head.

A chuckle. "Killed by indifference. That'll be a . . . "

Both then perked as the door opened, revealing a smiling Erebus. "My apologies for intruding on you, cousin Blaise, Lady Chikage. We are finished. The Dame Sheriff Godwine commands our presence in the Great Hall so the announcements can be made."

Both of them nodded . . .

* * *

The Great Hall, minutes later . . .

"My friends, welcome to a most unique occasion here at Hogwarts," Albus stated. The Great Hall had been converted into a semi-circle of tables, with the 147 residents of Rhosan Green currently seated in the inner circle, among them being the ten of their number who were currently attending school at Hogwarts. Albus, Matilda and Veronica Roper were at the head table, along with Sandra Kellery, while the six candidates - four women and two men - who were running for the position of Chief Constable of Rhosan Green in seats before the table. Also present - much to Albus' personal concern - was Rita Skeeter, a cameraman from the _Daily Prophet_ at her side, Quick-Quotes Quill at the ready; she was there representing the magical press. A lectern was presently set up in the middle of the circle between the candidates and those one of them would soon be sworn to ultimately protect. The other students and staff at Hogwarts were all currently standing behind their lost countrymen.

"While we in 'mainstream' wizarding society are somewhat unfamiliar with the process our recently-reunited countrymen are engaged in right now, those of you from normal society will be quite familiar with the general concepts behind the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1840. That was issued by Her Majesty Queen Victoria to give local self-rule - then called 'responsible government' - to those magical villages and residents of same who, due to whatever reason, could not be directly administered by the Ministry of Magic. As Her Majesty's Magistrate Magical of the Loyal County of Gloucestershire, where the village of Rhosan Green is located, Dame Matilda Godwine is directly charged by Her Majesty to ensure that all who live there can do so in peace and prosperity. To that end, she needs an effective magical policing force in Rhosan Green to ensure - especially given the very tragic fact that the elder natives of the village are incapable now of practicing magic on their own - that the peace, order and good governance of the village is maintained. To that end, I turn things over to Dame Godwine so that we may hear the decision made by the natives of Rhosan Green - in the true spirit of our ancestors, who UNANIMOUSLY voted for the Separation Act in 1692 - concerning their future." He bowed to Matilda. "Dame Godwine, the floor is yours."

"My thanks, Baron Dumbledore," Matilda said before she gazed at Sandra. "Miss Kellery, as the volunteer Chief Elections Officer for this occasion, would you please read the results of the vote for the position of Chief Constable of Rhosan . . . "

"_**STOP THIS RIGHT THIS MINUTE!**_"

Matilda tried not to sigh as she turned to see a familiar woman storm into the Great Hall, accompanied by a half-dozen aurors in full uniform. "Senior Undersecretary Umbridge, what are you doing here?" she said in a voice that was at the temperature of liquid nitrogen. "The Ministry has no authority in this matter!"

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Delores cut her off. "This is an illegal and immoral assembly in direct contravention of the wishes of the Minister of Magic and the . . .!"

"_**MINISTER **_**OF**_** MAGIC?**_"

That magically-enhanced voice that nearly shook the Great Hall to its very foundations had come from Albus, who now looked VERY irate. As all the students and staff all stared in wide-eyed disbelief at the headmaster and Delores began to quake in fear while the Aurors began to shuffle back from her, Albus instantly apparated over to loom right over the younger woman. Everyone spun around to watch as jaws dropped and Hermione began to mutter, "That's impossible! It's impossible! You can't . . .!"

"Hermione, it's magic," Chikage chided her, which made the normal-born girl gaze on the traveller. "If you have the will, there is always a way."

Hermione blinked before nodding in understanding. By then, Delores was badly losing the staring contest she was engaged in with Albus. "Madame Umbridge," the headmaster then said in a voice that was almost the equal of Severus' normal dry tones when it came to lack of emotion, " . . . are you declaring that the Ministry of Magic is now in a state of REBELLION?" he then asked, his voice not raising in volume though the coldness in his words was enough to send shivers down everyone's spines.

Delores sputtered, all-out fear now on her face. "N-n-no . . . "

"Good," Albus hissed. "Next time you address the Minister _for_ Magic's title improperly, I will immediately call for an assembly of the FULL Wizengamot - including all those such as Marquess Harry Potter, Marquess Herodotus Runcorn and Marquess Pierus Collins, not to mention Earl Countess Lynn Roper and the seats currently being held by Baron Blaise Zabini as he IS the magical heir to the positions of the Magical Earldoms of Kirk, Potts and Vance! - to have you IMPEACHED from your position for your acts of TREASON against the Crown and the Realm! Much that I would prefer young Miss Selwyn to enjoy her life here before she is forced to assume her family seat in the Wizengamot, your actions may hasten that very eventuality." As Delores squawked in horrified shock and many of the students found themselves gazing at Hester Selwyn - she was Delores' first cousin once removed through her late maternal uncle Jason; Hester was currently a third year in Slytherin - Albus leaned closer to her as he growled, "When I am done with you, you will be turned over to the Magistrates Magical so they can try you for your misdemeanours in their positions as the members of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Magical Privy Council, the highest court of law that exists in this land! I'll also see to it that WHEN you're found guilty, you'll be spending quality time in _Gonebren_ reflecting on your misdeeds! Now be SILENT and allow what is happening to be done!"

Delores squawked in terror on hearing the prison's name, and then she collapsed in a dead faint on the floor. People close to Hester were quick to see her roll her eyes at her relative's antics. By the main doors, the Aurors exchanged looks before Wayne Proudfoot came up. "Forgive me for asking, Chief Warlock Dumbledore, but what exactly is going on here? All the Senior Undersecretary told us was that there was an meeting being held here at Hogwarts to organise a plot against the Ministry of Magic!"

A sigh. "Be assured, Wayne, there is no such thing being done right now," Albus then said, the usual twinkle flashing in his eye. "All that is happening is that the people of Rhosan Green are making their desires concerning who will be protecting them in the future known as per guidelines set in the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1840."

The Aurors took that in, and then they moaned. "Oh, terrific!" Elaine Savage, the current head of this detail, then spat out before she glared at the unconscious Delores. "Amelia's going to have our guts for garters when she gets wind of this!"

"Be assured, Elaine, I will speak to Amelia about this personally," Albus assured her before turning back to the head of the room. "My apologies, Matilda. Will you be so kind as to continue, now that we got the side show out of the way?"

Matilda laughed. "Let's handle that question first, then!" she declared. "Sandra, the results of the vote for the ultimate administration of Rhosan Green?"

Sandra smiled as she looked at the scroll in her hand. "Of the 137 eligible electors of Rhosan Green age eleven and over, the results are as follows, Mistress," she said before reading, "All in favour of forming a Loyal Magical Village under the direct administration of Her Majesty the Queen through your office as Her Majesty's Magistrate Magical of the Loyal County of Gloucestershire: 137. All in favour of allowing Her Majesty's Ministry of Magic to administer the village under the applicable clauses of the Separation Act of 1692 and the Ministry Governance Act of 1702: zero."

"So be it," Matilda said as almost everyone in the room seemed to breathe out and smile on hearing that. "Now, the vote of Chief Constable, please?"

"For the position of Chief Constable of Her Majesty's Loyal Village of Rhosan Green, the winner is as follows," Sandra then said before she stared at Rita. "For the information of all your readers, Mistress Rita, all 137 eligible electors from the village of Rhosan Green were asked to scale their choices for Chief Constable on a rating of 1 to 6, with a rating of 6 being the most desired candidate, thus giving any potential candidate a maximum number of points of 822 to be unanimously declared Chief Constable of the village. The required 75 percent parity in this case, per Paragraph Nine of the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1840, is 617 points. To that end, the winner, with a score of 703 points, is retired Auror Lance Corporal Mistress Darlene Ruspidge, current resident of the Loyal Magical Village of Osborne's Dyke."

Hearing that, one of the people there - a raven-haired woman in her thirties with dark hazel eyes and a noticeable scar on her cheek indicative of an encounter with a wild werewolf in the past - beamed as she stood up and bowed to the people who had placed their trust in her. As the villagers all applauded, they soon joined by many of the students and staff behind them, Darlene then placed herself in front of the lectern as Matilda took her place there. "Mistress Ruspidge, do you accept the choice of Her Majesty's Subjects of the Loyal Magical Village of Rhosan Green?" she solemnly asked.

A deep bow of the head. "I do, Dame Matilda."

Matilda then drew out a dagger. "I declare Thy Hall one of the Sovereign's Reeve Towers, Oh Lady Hogwarts!" she said as she drew the edge of the blade over her skin and allowed her blood to fall to the floor. Once it touched, a burst of blinding energy then exploded from it, flaring out to plunge the whole of the Great Hall in darkness, torches on both sides of the room providing the only light. As the watching students gasped in awed shock and the professors gaped at the display of charms now being demonstrated around them, Darlene then offered her left hand as she raised her right. Matilda then allowed her dagger to draw over Darlene's palm as she said, "Repeat after me: 'I, Darlene Nichola Ruspidge, do solemnly swear and affirm . . . '"

"I, Darlene Nichola Ruspidge, do solemnly swear and affirm . . . "

"'That I will be faithful and bear true allegiance . . . '"

"That I will be faithful and bear true allegiance . . . "

"'To Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second . . . '"

"To Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second . . . "

"'Her Heirs and Successors, according to law.'"

"Her Heirs and Successors, according to law."

"'I shall serve Her Majesty in the Office of Chief Constable . . . '"

"I shall serve Her Majesty in the Office of Chief Constable . . . "

"'Of Her Majesty's Loyal Magical Wick of Rhosan Green . . . '"

"Of Her Majesty's Loyal Magical Wick of Rhosan Green . . . "

"'And shall protect all those under my charge . . . '"

"And shall protect all those under my charge . . . "

"'And ensure all Her Majesty's Laws and Most Royal Proclamations . . . '"

"And ensure all Her Majesty's Laws and Most Royal Proclamations . . . "

"'Are adhered to per my Sworn Oath of Loyalty to Her Majesty.'"

"Are adhered to per my Sworn Oath of Loyalty to Her Majesty."

"'I solemnly swear and affirm my magic and my life to this oath.'"

"I solemnly swear and affirm my magic and my life to this oath."

"'This I vow. So more it be.'"

"This I vow. So more it be."

Darlene then jerked as she felt a wave of energy flood through her body from head to toe, and then she relaxed as she then noticed a black cloak was now draped over her body, now emblazoned with the coat of arms of Her Majesty's Magical Shire Reeve and Magistrate Magical of the Loyal County of Gloucestershire over her heart. With that, Matilda then sheathed the dagger as she offered her hand. "May I be the first to congratulate you on your election, Chief Constable Ruspidge."

A grin. "Thank you, Dame Matilda."

"Don't let them down."

"I certainly won't."

On hearing her say that, everyone began to clap and cheer . . .

* * *

Later, near the front gates . . .

"Miss Skeeter?"

Rita paused on hearing that voice, and then she turned to give Albus a smile before she and her cameraman walked through the gates and past the wards around Hogwarts so they could apparate back to the _Daily Prophet_ offices in London. "Yes, Professor," she said as he came up to her. "By the way, nice work on Umbridge," she said with a delighted grin. "You best be careful, sir. You might ruin your reputation as the 'Jolly Old Man' of the Wizengamot with the way you went after her earlier."

"She overstepped her bounds, especially given her refusal to understand what was revealed to her - as well as the Minister and others - at Balmoral some weeks ago," Albus stated as he gazed knowingly at her. "Delores had to be stopped right there before she made - or makes - a mistake that will cost too many people too much. I intervened because it was necessary." He then smiled. "You may quote me on that."

"I certainly will, but she has friends in the Wizengamot," Rita warned.

"As do I, including those whose houses are currently - but _temporarily_ - recessed from active service in the Wizengamot," he advised her. "That can change."

"What will Harry do, then?"

He perked, nodding in admiration. Rita, as a Ravenclaw (NEWT Class of 1968), had demonstrated a very quick mind in her schooling. "I expected that question. Harry - as well as Pierus and Herodotus, not to mention Hogan's eldest daughter as heiress to their family seat - will keep his seat in recess until he (and they!) see that the Wizengamot is finally doing what it is SUPPOSED to be doing when it comes to helping administer the magicals of this land." He then turned away. "Please quote me on that as well, Rita. It took me quite by surprise when Matilda told me that when you were using your Quick-Quotes Quill, it was ACCURATELY recording down what was being said in the Great Hall. It will do you - and us - much good if you did that always."

She chuckled. "I expected you would say something like that, Albus. What did you call my writing once before?" She then perked as it came to her. "Ah, yes! I remember now: 'Enchantingly nasty.'" A smirk then crossed her face. "Believe it or not, Albus, I pride myself in telling the truth to my readers. If I lost their trust, I'd be out of a job very quickly. People like you - for whatever YOUR reasons; I'm still trying to figure you out - make it hard for me to GET that truth so people will know. That forces me to speculate, which, despite what you might think, makes me feel as if I'm NOT doing my job. I know I can't get away with it forever, but as long as people are ignorant of the real truths of life, I'll keep doing what I have to." She turned away. "It doesn't mean I LIKE it, though. Think about it, Albus."

And with that, she walked through the gates and apparated away. Albus watched her go, a smile on his face as he stroked his beard . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	15. Hallowe'en

The Great Hall, Thursday 31 October . . .

"So what happened to Hermione?" Pansy asked.

Harry sighed as others in the group rolled their eyes. Save for the normal-born of his group of friends, everyone was present at the end of the Gryffindor table as they enjoyed lunch, their last one sitting wherever they wanted until the following morning as that evening was the Hallowe'en banquet. Even the newcomers from Rhosan Green were with them now. "During Charms today, a certain loudmouth decided that he couldn't tolerate the idea of a normal-born showing him up," Sǔ stated before sipping her juice. "Even more, he had the audacity to say Hermione had no friends."

Everyone blinked. "What did he call her?" Draco asked.

"'A nightmare,'" Nyx provided.

Aesup growled, "I almost cursed the _pabo_!"

"So that's why the idiot's over there where it's safe, eh?" Blaise noted as he looked over his shoulder to see Ron sitting with his older brothers and Lee Jordan at the Hufflepuff table. As people looked his way, they were quick to note that the youngest Weasley was trying NOT to attract attention. "Go ahead and hex him, Aesup," he then said as he smiled at the Korean witch. "The whole school will cheer you on."

"Oh, don't worry about him, Blaise," Achelois said. "I think . . . "

"_**YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH . . .!**_"

Eyes snapped around as people watched Ron leap out of his chair and scramble away from the table, screaming his head off as he tried to make shooing motions with his hands. At first surprised to note that they couldn't see whatever it was that was frightening him to death, people then gaped as ghostly spiders the size of the average house dog appeared, all with their pincers chattering excitedly as they seemed to advance on him. People watching this started to laugh as Ron screamed out, waving the hideous apparitions away as Minerva and Severus raced over, wands out as they moved to dispel them. "Calm down, Mister Weasley!" the head of Gryffindor said as she swished her wand. "They're just . . .!" Her jaw then dropped. "Oh, my dear . . .!"

"_**Hear us well, Oh Denizens of Hogwarts . . .!**_"

People gaped as the spiders morphed into six cloaked figures that - despite the fact that no one could see their faces - seemed to glare at everyone there with an intensity that even held Minerva and Severus in place. "Oh, my . . .!" the potions master then breathed out. "It appears old ghosts have returned to us . . .!"

"_**Hear us all as we declare our intentions . . .!**_" that haunting mixture of voices then boomed. "_**More than ten years ago did those like us walk these halls, protecting those who could not protect themselves or who would not be protected by their brother and sister students. We would remain silent this year save for the actions of THIS one . . .!**_" - Everyone blinked as they all turned as one to point at Ron, who was gaping wide-eyed at those weird images - "_**When, this very day, he failed to recognise the helping hand of a sister in his very own house who tried to help him master his magic!**_" The hands lowered as they turned to face the remainder of the student body. "_**Know this well: WE WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS ABUSE!**_"

The Great Hall then seemed to plunge into darkness as the windows suddenly turned black and the torches all went dim, causing people to cry out in fear and shock as they all found themselves staring at the images now hovering near Ron.

"_**Let this be known to you . . . **_" the sextet of ghosts seemed to boom.

"_**THE ICEMAIDENS HAVE RETURNED!**_"

And with that, the images vanished as the lights came back on and the darkness vanished, leaving a gaping student body, many of whom were gasping the word "Icemaidens" and whispering to their neighbours . . . and a stunned and surprised crowd of teachers at the head table save for Filius, who was nearly jumping with joy at the wonderful charms he had just seen. Finally, Albus stood. "Professor McGonagall?"

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore?" Minerva said as she looked at him.

While he looked stern, people close to the headmaster were quick to see his eyes twinkling. "If this new generation of Icemaidens is anything like their predecessors fifteen years ago, I would strongly suggest you take Mister Weasley aside sometime later and try to determine what he may have done to earn their ire this day."

Minerva hummed. "I shall keep that in mind, sir."

Ron gulped on hearing that as the transfiguration mistress turned to glare at him. "Thank you, Professor," Albus said before facing the students. "And speaking of which, whoever you were that caused this prank, I would clearly judge it NOT in good taste as Mister Weasley obviously suffers from a severe case of arachnophobia! Pray you are not caught, for you will be soundly punished for this act!" He then smiled. "Now that our noon-day entertainment is done, let's get back to our meal!"

He sat down as people turned back to their food, madly gossiping away . . .

* * *

The Vanished Wing, after start of third afternoon period . . .

"YOU PRANKED RON?"

A wet-cheeked Hermione stared wide-eyed at a grinning Aesup, Brianna, Achelois, Camellia, Marian and Jane - as well as Harry, Pansy, Daphne, Millicent and Tracey - as they sat together in the northeast classroom. For the Gryffindors and Slytherins of the crowd, classes were over for the rest of the day, so they could remain in the Vanished Wing for as long as they wanted to. For the Hufflepuffs, there was a double period of D.A.D.A. starting up in over a half-hour. "We saw what that loudmouth said after the end of Charms, 'Mione," Brianna growled as she crossed her arms. "You were trying to help him better use the _Wingardium Leviosa_. All he had to do was ask you to go away. He had no right to insult you, much less say you have no friends here!"

Hermione blinked, and then she sniffed. "You're my friends . . .?"

Seeing she was about to break down and cry again, Brianna and Aesup moved to embrace her from both sides. The others also moved in to give their support. Noting that they were all whispering reassurances to her as they held the weeping normal-born close to them, Harry quietly withdrew from the classroom and made his way across the central hall to the northwest side, where Chikage was currently scanning through some of her notes in various classes in preparation for the final periods today.

"How is she?" the traveller stated as Harry came in to sit beside her.

"She's a wreck," he noted. "What's with him, anyway?"

"Ronald?"

"Yeah. I mean, he strikes me as a pretty friendly guy and all that. Talks your ears off when it comes to quidditch and he can eat enough for five of us. But . . . " He shook his head. "I just don't get someone like that, Chikage."

A sigh. "He's lazy, Harry. And he has a vast inferiority complex."

He blinked. "Lazy?"

"Yes. He's the baby of a set of six brothers. Because he's the baby of the crowd, he most likely got a lot of attention from his parents when his older brothers were busy growing up and preparing themselves for life beyond the hearth. Suddenly, he's here in a place where he has to learn how to stand on his own two feet. Deep down, he's scared to be here, so he doesn't want his shortcomings to be displayed like that." A sigh. "I must confess this: Hermione herself has a bit of a problem. She's practically a genius and I doubt she's ever learned how to properly relate to those who aren't as smart as she is. I have to wonder what her public school life was like."

"Might have been pretty lonely," he noted.

"Perhaps. Atop that, look at Ronald's brothers. William is a curse breaker and earning a considerable salary working for Gringotts. Charles is also making a good life for himself at that dragon preserve Ronald often speaks of. Percival is a scholar almost at Hermione's level and has his life's path plotted out already for him. I sense Frederick and George, once they're free of this place, will go forth and establish a pranking business that would have the owners of Zonko's in Hogsmeade quaking in their boots." A shrug. "What can Ronald do in the face of all that?"

"I've seen him play chess," Harry noted. "He's pretty good at that."

"Pity that chess isn't played in the wizarding world with the same passion as it's played in Russia," she mused as she finished folding up her notes, and then she proceeded to load up for D.A.D.A. "Would you care for a word of advice, Harry?"

"What?"

"When you get the chance, spend some time alone with Hermione," Chikage said. "While I wasn't there to hear that insult, I can sense how much those words hurt her. She needs reassurance that you will always be her friend. It will do her - and you as well - a lot of good in the long run." A sigh. "I'll be back here later."

Harry nodded as she headed off . . .

* * *

Later . . .

"How are you feeling?"

Hermione perked on hearing that concerned question, and then she looked as Harry straightened himself from his bow and walked into the dōjō. She was currently sitting near the kamidana at the head of the room, in a meditative pose that Chikage had taught them back in the middle of the previous month. "I'm alright, I guess," she admitted as he walked over to sit down beside her. "It just got to me."

"Yeah, he's a prat, isn't he?" Harry said as he did a formal bow to the portrait of _Ō-Sensei_ - the portrait wasn't moving this time - and then he relaxed as he moved to join her in meditation. "He tries to be friendly and tells jokes and all that, but then . . . " A shake of the head. "I guess you threatened him."

"I didn't mean to," she admitted. "I . . . " A tired sigh then escaped her. "I know I come off as a know-it-all, but I just can't be anything else, Harry! It's the way I've always been. And coming here . . . " She sniffed back tears. "I know I have to work hard to make it in this world! I know about all the insults and the hate and all the prejudice! Even if guys in our year like Draco and Blaise and the others - even all the people from Rhosan Green like Libera and her sisters - are trying to be proper and polite to me, I can still feel how uncomfortable they are when they're close to people like me and Sally-Anne and Justin and Kevin and Wayne . . . "

Sobs escaped her as she leaned into him. Harry quickly drew his arms around her as she began to cry, his hands moving up to gently feel through her hair as she clung onto him tightly, her tears flowing down her cheeks and onto his aikidōgi top. He stayed still as he shushed her, whispering reassurances into her ear like he did to Rose whenever she broke down and cried at things like his wanting to learn how to fly, much less leaving their home at Reevetor Somerset to come to Hogwarts. After a moment, Hermione's sobs began to fade into sniffles as she moved to wipe her face down.

"Feel better now?" he asked.

A sniff. "Y-y-yeah," she stuttered out. "Thanks . . . "

He gave her a shy smile. "Shucks, ma'am," he then said in a VERY awful Texan accent which made her gape at him. "'Tweren't nothin' at all."

A laugh escaped her. "You prat!"

They both then broke down and giggled as they hugged each other again. After a moment, Harry then pulled away and looked into her eyes. "As soon as I can, I'm gonna get the memory of lunch out of my head and into a pensieve so you can see what the girls did to Ron," he then assured her. "Now that the Icemaidens are back . . . "

"Are they gonna get into trouble?" she then demanded.

A shrug. "I don't think so. Yeah, it was pretty nasty to play up Ron's fear of spiders in public like that, but he HURT you with what he said, 'Mione!" he said as he stared at her. "Yeah, you can be bossy at times, but I know you've got a really good heart underneath it all. You want to help people when you see them struggling. Look what you do even for people like Nyx, Bellona and Neville! That's a really good thing to do." He then shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe when Aunt Janet retires, you can take her place and be the Shire Reeve of West Sussex. You'd be pretty good at it."

Her cheeks reddened. "You think so?"

A nod. "Rose thinks so."

Her jaw dropped. "You've written to Rose about me?"

"Sure! She wants to know all about you. She really likes you."

Her cheeks reddened to the shade of a fire engine. "Really . . .?"

A nod. "Yeah. I like you, too."

Silence.

"You do?"

Another nod. "Yeah."

Hermione blinked, and then looked up into his green eyes with her brown ones, now as wide as they could be as they took in what was before her. "Harry . . . "

He jolted on hearing that hushed voice, and then his cheeks reddened. "S-sorry . . . " he then stuttered out. "I didn't mean to embarrass you . . . "

She shook her head. "N-no. You're not embarrassing me. I . . . "

Silence fell again as they found themselves looking at each other, and then he blinked as he leaned closer to her. She watched him, and then, sensing what was now coming to her, closed her eyes. Their lips gently touched each other in a kiss that was hesitant, full of inexperience and more akin to what one would do when kissing a relative than someone you might want in the future as one's life companion. After that, they pulled apart, and then both felt their cheeks redden as they looked anywhere else other than the opposite person's eyes. Before they could say more, though . . .

"Excuse me."

Both gasped as they looked around, and then found themselves staring at the image of a now-smiling Morihei Ueshiba gazing at them from his picture. "_Ō-Sensei!_" both gasped out before they moved to prostrate themselves before him.

A chuckle from the image of the founder of aikidō. "Much that I think I do understand what is now bringing you two together like this, _Potter-san_, _Granger-san_ - and I WILL confess a dōjō has often been the scene of one's first kiss - but I do believe there might be other places you may go to so you can have a little _privacy_."

Both kids blinked on hearing that, and then they giggled . . .

* * *

After end of final class . . .

"Um, Chikage . . . "

Chikage looked up from her notes to see Pansy standing at the doorway to the northwest classroom. "What seems to be the problem, Pansy?"

The brunette witch was trying desperately _not_ to blush. "Um . . . you better come over here to see this, Chikage," she said as she beckoned her to follow.

The traveller's eyebrows arched as she rose to follow. A minute later, they stopped at the doorway to the southwest classroom, which had been converted years ago into a sort of auxiliary bedroom for those who came to the Vanished Wing to study for their OWLs and NEWTs and didn't have the energy to return back to the dorms late at night. The beds - there were a dozen of them, with no privacy dividing curtains between them - were still there and quite intact. One was now occupied.

Noting the smiles on Harry's and Hermione's faces as they held each other close, Chikage could only nod as she walked over and shifted the covers up to tuck them in. Both were soundly asleep, Hermione's cheeks still damp from her crying while Harry's own cheeks had steaks on them; no doubt, he had gladly shed tears in sympathy to his current companion's pain. With that, the traveller smiled as she moved to head to the doorway, ignoring Pansy's stunned look as she closed the door behind her, then whispered a locking charm to ensure they would be left alone. "They're alright."

"But, still . . .!"

Chikage's eyebrow arched. "Do I detect jealousy in your voice, Pansy?"

The Slytherin awked, her cheeks instantly flaming at the Hufflepuff's words, and then she rapidly shook her head. "N-n-no . . .!" she sputtered, and then she tried not to moan as Chikage gave her a knowing look. "W-w-well, a little, I guess . . . "

"Which is understandable," the traveller noted as she waved Pansy with her back to the northwest classroom. "From what I understand of your parents from Lilian - she is one of Harry's and Rose's house elves; she was gifted all of their mother's knowledge by Mrs. Potter before she died - your mother and father were close friends of their parents. I would assume they were the ones who helped your parents finally come together, right?" On noting Pansy nod in response, Chikage then smiled. "So naturally, you would be interested in their son. And given how respectfully he has acted to your entire house since we started school - especially to those at our year level - you now find it a lot easier and comfortable to express those feelings without fear of one of your housemates taking advantage of that, correct?" Pansy nodded again. "But by the looks of it, Hermione has beaten you to the punch, so to speak."

"Have they done it?"

Chikage's eyebrow arched again. "What do you mean?"

"Have they had sex?"

A shake of the head; Chikage wasn't perturbed by Pansy's bluntness. "No. Right now, they're taking comfort in each other's presence." She crossed her arms. "Harry got the Talk after his seventh birthday. I suspect Rose got the Talk . . . what?"

Pansy was gobsmacked. "Harry got the Talk when he was SEVEN?"

"Yes. He had a lady friend his age whom he helped tutor in several basic skills when he began attending a prepatory school near where he now lives. She got a crush on him and her older brother would later ask Harry to not hurt Simone's - that's her name - feelings. He, of course, had no idea what Simone's brother was ultimately talking about, so after trying to get an explanation from Rose's godfather and his own magical guardian - miserably failing both times, I will add - he went to Elaine Buckshire." Chikage smirked. "And she gave him quite an earful." A sigh. "I'm not sure about Hermione, but from what I sensed after I met them at Gringotts, her parents are both quite free-spirited, so she clearly understands some things." She then gazed on the brunette. "What would your parents want you to do when it comes to Harry?" she asked.

"Well, if we became lovers and we later married, they'd be really happy," Pansy admitted. "You're right; Uncle James and Aunt Lily were the ones who brought them together. But . . . " A sigh. "In a way, Dad and Mom are quite traditional, but they're also strong believers in free choice. They've been approached from time to time by people who want their sons to marry me. Draco's parents, for example. But they would prefer it if I had the freedom of choice when it comes to whom I'd marry and they've made that point again and again." A laugh. "I guess I'm lucky I learned about that oath to the Queen and how taking it basically flushes all the marriage laws and decrees down the privy. Draco's dad and his friends never liked the idea of my family, much less Daphne's, staying neutral in the last war. It didn't get to the point where we ended up being marked as 'blood-traitors' - the amount of power our families have over the economy here in Britain is pretty tight - but it came close." A sigh. "If it isn't me, it'll be Daph. If it isn't Daph, it'll be her sister Tori. I hope she'll get into a different house when she comes here in a couple years, but . . . "

A hum. "Such a silly obsession."

A nod. "Yeah, it's silly." She then stared at Chikage. "What about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is there someone for you?" Pansy grinned. "Other than Wataru, of course?"

"No," Chikage said. "And while the temptation is there to seek out a mate here and invite him or her back with me home, there are the potential repercussions."

Pansy perked. "'Him or her?' You already know about that?"

The traveller smirked. "How far can I trust you, Pansy?"

The Slytherin blinked on hearing that, and then she sighed. "I could take a Vow, but I know you're pretty leery of people doing that for you."

"There's a difference between a Vow of Silence and a Life Debt, Pansy." Chikage then stared at her for a moment, the gaze of those dark royal blue eyes nearly making Pansy shiver, before she smiled. "I'm sixteen years old. And that's not counting the five years I was disembodied thanks to Second Kantō. Legally, back in my dimension, I'm twenty-one. And I'm not counting my previous lives, of course."

Silence.

Pansy stared at the traveller for a moment as her mouth opened and closed, her mind nearly crashing to a halt as it tried to take in that information, and then she seemed to sink in her chair before staring once more at Chikage. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why didn't you come here when you were eleven?"

A smirk. "My mother, of course. And my own devotion to her at the time. Let's just say that now, I know much better." Chikage sighed. "In 2020 - I was born in 2009 - Grandfather came to our house in Tōkyō and offered me the chance to go on my Magical Quest. Mother ordered him to leave right then and there, then forbade me from ever seeing him ever again. She wanted nothing to do with magic and didn't want me to follow in Grandfather's path." She stared at Pansy. "She blamed the very existence of Magic Itself for the death of my grandmother when she gave birth to Mother."

"That's stupid! Your mother's an idiot!" Pansy spat.

"Indeed, she is. It took me a while to fully realise that, but I did and I saw that I was not going to get anywhere in my life with Mother looming like a vulture over me. So I eventually left the house and joined Brother Darling and my half-sisters on Promised Island - Ōmure-jima as it's properly known - when I began middle school so we could all attend school together. Along the way, Grandfather would secretly visit me and teach me some things. My skill in the Tarot and use of a scrying ball comes from that." Chikage then smirked. "Somehow, I suspect he knew the quake was coming. And with it would come an opportunity." She gazed on Pansy. "And it happened."

"I always heard the Chinese write the characters for 'crisis' as a combination of 'danger' and 'opportunity,'" Pansy noted. "It's a wise philosophy."

"It is indeed."

"Would you do it?"

Chikage perked. "Do what?"

"Take someone from this dimension back home?"

The traveller blinked as she considered that point, and then she stood, walking over to the window to gaze on the courtyard around the greenhouses. "If that person either was fully prepared to divorce himself or herself from EVERYTHING he or she has in this dimension - or if, by some awful quirk of Fate, that person felt that he or she had NOTHING left to live for in this dimension - I would consider it. I'm sure that Grandfather, Grandmother Nicole and Yoshio-papa wouldn't mind. As they say it in Toratotaka, bouts of 'hero syndrome' are tolerated from time to time."

Pansy looked confused. "'Toratotaka?' What does that mean?"

Chikage perked. "My apologies. I forgot that you know nothing of my world." A sigh. "'Grandmother Nicole' is Nicole McTavish. Ravenclaw, NEWT class of 1958 at the Hogwarts in my dimension. She is the co-chairwoman of an international banking and trust conglomerate called 'Toratotaka International L.L.C.,' which controls over sixty percent of the world's banking, trust and credit companies in my time."

Pansy gaped. "What about all the national trust laws?" Given that Parkinson Enterprises L.L.C. (as her parents' overall company was called both in the normal and the magical world) was something that had elements on both sides of the magical divide and that Malcolm and Gruoch both expected her and Michael to be ready to take their places when the time came, she knew a lot about the ways of business.

"By my age, national governments - both normal and magical - have lost a lot of power and influence over people's lives. Filling the gap they're leaving behind are many international conglomerates that have, in many ways, assumed the roles and gained the power equal to most nation-states, even superpowers like America, Russia and China. That, of course, has both many positive and negative implications, some of which I'll have no choice but to deal with when I get home," Chikage explained. She then gazed at Pansy. "Due to a rather incredible series of events over the last twenty years in my universe - of which Second Kantō was one quite significant part - Toratotaka became one of two organisations on the planet that gained the ability to create bioroids."

Confusion. "What are they?"

"It's a portmanteau. It means 'biological android.'"

Pansy took a moment to consider that, and then she blinked. "You're a machine?"

"No." Chikage didn't seem bothered by the fact that Pansy had come so quickly to that conclusion. Then again, surviving in the Serpents' Den always required a very quick mind. "The body I have now is fully organic, cloned from the DNA of my original body, which . . . " A smirk. "Didn't weather a 9.9 earthquake quite well."

Pansy winced. She remembered what Chikage had said on the former's birthday concerning the reason the Spiral had to be built. "Richter scale, right?"

"Yes. And that brings us to the third person I mentioned: Yoshio Saotome." A smile crossed my face. "He is Grandmother Nicole's godson, currently the division head for all of Toratotaka's regional operations in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Tibet and Mongolia. The 'House Patriarch,' as he is formally called." A sigh. "Yoshio-papa also, thanks to Second Kantō, was forced to rediscover the means by which bioroids were created; the process was first exposed to the people of Earth nearly fifty years ago in my time by the Sagussans, during the period when my planet was being introduced to a wider galaxy." She gazed on Pansy. "And yes, I know that some here would view that as necromancy. But magical healing is sometimes based on principles of necromancy. And in the end of it all . . . "

"It saved your life. And your sisters'."

"Yes. A hundred and thirty-three of us, all told."

A nod. "Then it was the right thing to do." Pansy then hummed. "So if - sometime in the future - you did meet someone who did want to follow you and if it got past your grandfather, Chairwoman McTavish and Patriarch Saotome, then . . . "

"The best way to do that would be to create a bioroid clone body of the person who did come with me, then do a soul-transference using a process called 'Janus,' which Yoshio-papa managed to perfect in 2027 thanks to initial input by a scientist who once worked for Toratotaka during the mid-2010s, Katsuhito Stingray," Chikage finished, and then she gazed once more at Pansy. "Why are you asking me this, Pansy?"

Silence.

_Why AM I asking her this?_ the brunette wondered to herself before she took a deep breath. "You fascinate me," she then confessed.

A smirk. "My apologies."

"Why are you apologising?" Pansy wondered, grinning. "C'mon, Chikage! This is something you simply can't run away from. You come HERE from another DIMENSION of all places - and let's set aside the time-slipping, too! - to study magic when it's well known that there's a Hogwarts (and a Dejima) in your dimension. And when people ask you why you did this, you practically come out and imply that our magic is 'purer!'" She then smirked. "That filled a lot of people here with a lot of pride, you know. And if you're anything like your grandfather - and after what I read of him, you certainly are THAT, reincarnationist or not! - we'll benefit from it a lot!" A shrug. "They're as fascinated with you as they are of Harry and Rose. You're unique. Merlin, you're the EPITOME of uniqueness in everything you do!" A smile. "I admire that."

"So why ask - or at least imply - about coming with me home?"

Pansy shrugged. "I'm keeping my options open."

"Pansy, that's a very EXTREME option."

A nod. "Perhaps. But I can't really think myself as a true follower of Master Salazar's ways if I don't examine ALL the options. That's how we survive and thrive. Learn all we need to know to stay alive and safe, then take whatever option we need to remain safe and better ourselves." A shrug. "I'm not like Melli, who's of the opinion that to better herself means helping better everyone else. Makes me wonder why the heck she's in Slytherin instead of being with you in Hufflepuff, but . . . " She then sighed.

"It's a pity Grandfather's rune book was lost."

Surprise. "What rune book?"

A chuckle. "One thing he always told me he regretted NOT doing was inviting friends to come with him on his summer trips while he was here," Chikage explained. "The only time someone ever DID come with him was Grand-uncle Glaston to Ariadne in his fourth summer here. So as a final gift to Hogwarts for allowing him to study there, he prepared a special rune and arithmantic log of everything he learned about dimensional hopping, then gifted the book to the school library. Professor Dumbledore told me the book itself went missing a few years after Grandfather returned home."

Pansy gaped. "Oh, Merlin! Then . . . " She then blinked. "Wouldn't people like Aunt Napaeae be able to sense another dimensional gate like the Garden that Rose and Harry live close by, plus the place where your grandfather first came here?"

"I believe so," Chikage said. "The _Kokujun_ was specifically designed to be sensitive to almost every form of magic Grandfather could imagine. And HIS knowledge base ultimately originates from MY dimension, not this one. So it could - if used properly - sniff out dimensional breaches anywhere in the British Isles." A sigh as she rolls her eyes. "I guess I'll have to add THAT to my 'to do' list while I'm here."

Pansy smirked. "No rest for the wicked, eh?"

"Unfortunately, no. And by the way, what about the Hallowe'en feast?"

The brunette perked, and then she moaned. "Oh, damn! Forgot about all that!" With that, she moved to leave, and then she stopped. "Aren't you coming?"

"I don't celebrate Hallowe'en," Chikage said. "As one who follows Shintō, my version of Hallowe'en doesn't come until summertime."

A curious look crossed her face. "What's it called?"

"'Obon.' Remind me to tell you it about sometime. You go have fun. If people ask, tell them Hermione is still recovering and Harry's keeping her company."

A nod. "Right."

* * *

The Great Hall, later . . .

"Miss Parkinson?"

Pansy perked, and then she looked over her shoulder. She had just come into the Great Hall and sat down when her head-of-house came up. "What is it, Professor?"

"Where are Mister Potter, Miss Granger, Miss Mun and Miss Hirosaki?" Severus asked. "The Headmaster and Professor McGonagall noted their absence."

A sigh. "Hermione is still recovering from what the Weasel did to her in Charms class today," Pansy reported. "Harry's staying with her to comfort her. I don't know where Aesup is. Chikage's busy studying as she doesn't feel it right to intrude on people when she doesn't believe in the traditions behind Hallowe'en, sir."

Severus nodded. "Ah, yes. Miss Hirosaki is Japanese, thus adheres to the ways of Shintō. If I recall correctly, their version of Hallowe'en comes during the middle of summer, not the middle of autumn." He hummed. "As she is Korean, Miss Mun quite openly adheres to the beliefs of her homeland, so she might not be inclined to come to a Hallowe'en feast as well; her older brother Yongjang was quite the same way when he attended here. And Professor Flitwick did tell me of that incident concerning Mister Weasley. As soon as you've done eating, go back to where they are and ensure they at least have some supper. I'll be sure to inform Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout about this."

"Have fun, Professor," Pansy bade him.

"Indeed I will."

He headed off. "Do you think Harry fancies her?" Draco, who was sitting across from Pansy, then asked before he took a sip of his goblet. "Hermione, I mean."

"I doubt that, Drake," Pansy said as she moved to finish her meal. "He's just being friends with her. And the Weasel DID go overboard with her back in Charms."

"True. Well, we can have some fun at that idiot's expense."

"True, we can," Pansy noted with a smirk . . .

* * *

The Vanished Wing . . .

"Feeling a little better, you two?"

Harry and Hermione perked on hearing that question, and then both began to blush before they stepped into the northeast classroom, where Chikage was currently enjoying a pleasant meal brought to her on a tray. Also there enjoying her own meal was Aesup, who had come into the Vanished Wing shortly after Pansy left. "Actually, I am," Hermione admitted as they sat with their friends. "Why aren't you at the feast?"

"I'm a follower of Shintō and Aesup's a shamanist. Neither of us celebrate Hallowe'en," Chikage said before looking towards the castle. "Mistress Lizzy?"

_Pop!_ "What would you desires, Mistress Chikage?" the elder elf of Hogwarts asked after appearing at the traveller's side, a grin on her face.

"Will you bring some food for Harry and Hermione, please?"

"Lizzy will does so!" _Pop!_

"Thanks," Hermione said as she and Harry took their seats while plates of food appeared before them. "I hope I don't get into trouble for missing the feast."

"Don't worry about it," Aesup assured her. "After what we pulled on that _pabo_ earlier today, people'll understand why you wanted some time alone."

"Well, that's another reason I won't have anything to do with him," Harry noted.

Chikage's eyebrow arched. "Oh?"

"Ron's still been trying to be friends with me," he explained as he nibbled on the jacket potato Lizzy had provided with his meal. "Even after he got onto the reserve quidditch team and even after Rose put his mother down, he's still trying."

"Maybe he really wants to be your friend," Chikage noted.

"But what does it mean to BE a friend, Chikage?"

A hum. "Good point. My half-sister Sakuya always was raised to believe you need four things to make any sort of relationship - be it friendship or love - work: Truth, Trust, Respect and Hope. How does Ronald's behaviour measure up?"

"How would Sakuya define that?" Hermione asked.

Chikage smiled. "Truth, Trust and Respect are quite self-explanatory. Hope implies how one would imagine how a friendship would survive into the future."

Harry hummed as he considered that. "Well, he is truthful in what he believes, so there's a good point. Still, he doesn't trust me when I'm with people from other houses, especially people from Slytherin. He doesn't really respect that I have a much different way of looking at a lot of things like he does. He acts as if I belong in 'mainstream' society . . . " - He made finger-quotes on saying that - " . . . and he just can't bring himself to try to understand what my life is like." He then shrugged as he continued to eat. "One positive, two negatives. Not a good start, I guess."

"Classic mudbrain," Aesup noted.

Hermione laughed. "Whoever came up with that, anyway?"

Aesup winked. "Don't know, but whoever it was, that person was a genius!"

More laughter, and then everyone perked on hearing footfalls. "Hi, guys!" Pansy said as she walked into the classroom, and then she relaxed. "Oh, good! What are you doing here, Aesup? Aren't you supposed to be at the banquet?"

"I'm a magical _mudang_ in training, Pansy. Don't believe in Hallowe'en," Aesup said as the Slytherin walked over to join them. "In Korea, we celebrate several days in the year for the dead where I come from. People die and become spirits all the time, so why concentrate on only just ONE day of the year to honour them?"

Pansy perked. "'_Mudang_?'"

"A shaman," Chikage provided. "Would you like some tea?"

"Please."

"Lippy?" Aesup called out.

_Pop!_ "Yes, Mistress Aesup?" a cute girl elf asked.

"Some _maeshil-ch'a_ for Pansy, please?"

"Right away, Mistress!" _Pop!_

"What's that?" Pansy asked as a cup of a golden tea appeared before her.

"Plum blossom tea. It's good for you," Aesup said.

Pansy took a sip, and then her eyes went wide as the taste danced over her tongue before she sat beside her friends as she began to drink the tea . . .

* * *

Later . . .

"So your family elf is teaching all the elves here to make Korean tea?"

"He is," Aesup said as everyone ascended the stairs from the tunnel to the Vanished Wing into the main castle, all quite full and satiated for the night. "They're doing pretty good with some of the . . . what is it, Chikage?"

Everyone stopped on seeing the traveller, who had paused at the top of the stairs. She was now staring with considerable surprise down the hallway past the main classrooms. "Um . . . " Harry began before he came up to join her and look.

One look was enough. "Crap," Harry breathed out.

"What?" Hermione demanded as she, Aesup and Pansy came up to look themselves, and then she stopped as her skin went totally white. "Oh, my . . .!"

"Hermione."

The normal-born stopped as she stared at Chikage. The traveller was giving her a look that could melt solid steel. "Don't scream," Chikage quietly said before she indicated the VERY big, green/grey-skinned mountain troll now lumbering down the hallway in their general direction. "The Confundus charm and Notice-me-Not spells are very good in protecting the stairwell, but they don't stop ALL noise. He will hear you."

Hermione gulped before she looked down the hallway again. "But how . . .?" she then eeped out. "How did one of those things get inside the CASTLE? They normally live out in the mountains or near rivers or in deep forests . . . "

"Hermione!"

She stopped as Chikage glared at her. "What?"

"You're babbling," the traveller scolded.

Hermione gave her an annoyed look as Harry and Aesup tried not to laugh. "So what do we do?" Pansy asked, keeping her voice down. "If you haven't noticed, it's standing between us and the dorms and the Great Hall where all the professors are!"

"Let's talk to him."

Silence.

"You're going to TALK to a TROLL?" Aesup demanded.

A deep growl.

Everyone stopped on hearing that as the troll suddenly gaze in their general direction, his club rising high. "Aesup, did you have to SHOUT?" Chikage muttered under her breath as she reached under her cloak to draw out a small crystal the size of a galleon coin. "Wait here. I'll calm him down." With that, she casually flicked the crystal into the air. "_Translatus Sentiens Magicus: Bergtroll Europa Borealis_," she whispered as the crystal began to glow, it now hovering a foot over Chikage's forehead. She then walked past the spell line, the crystal maintaining its place right over her forehead as she moved. "Greetings, honoured hunter," she then called out in English.

Silence.

"Meat speaks?"

Everyone gaped. The troll had moved his mouth with a munching motion, yet the words were clearly echoing in English in their ears. "How . . .?" Hermione eeped.

"Quiet!" Pansy hissed.

"You are hungry," Chikage stated, clearly acting as if speaking to a four-metre tall, thousand kilogram troll - complete with large battle club, of course - was a normal, everyday occurrence. "I can sense it. We have food if you desire it."

"Want meat! You meat! Eat meat!"

Chikage remained perfectly still as the troll raised his club.

"_**SECTUMSEMPRA!**_"

The troll roared in agony as bolts of energy punched into his chest and arms, causing considerable wounds to appear and start bleeding. "HARRY!" Chikage snarled as a pained groan escaped the troll as he staggered, dropping to one knee.

Another roar.

Chikage looked right, towards the direction of the herbology classroom, where ANOTHER troll was currently lumbering their way. "THAT is the reason I told you to WAIT THERE!" she snapped at Harry as Aesup yanked out her wand. "I . . .!"

"_**YONGSUM!**_"

A jet of pure FIRE erupted from Aesup's wand like a stream of burning napalm from a flamethrower to rip down the hallway and slam into the troll's midsection, causing his clothes and skin to light up. As the creature howled as he dropped to his knees, staring in shock as the magical fire began to consume him, Chikage drew out her own wand and pointed it at the wailing troll. "_**AQUA ERUCTO!**_" she barked.

A powerful jet blast of water slammed into the flame, causing it to be doused immediately. By then, the troll that had been approaching from the north had collapsed to his knees, a wail of horrific pain escaping him as the smell of seared troll flesh began to flood everyone's noses. Chikage lowered her wand, and then glared at the Korean witch. "Aesup, much that I don't mind you watching my back, but THINK, for Fate's sake! I was trying to calm THAT one down . . . " - She thumbed the first troll - " . . . which would have made THAT one pause and think for a moment . . .!"

"CHIKAGE!" Pansy shrieked.

"_**WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!**_"

Chikage turned as the troll Harry had struck with the Sword-Slashing Curse charged at her, his club held high. He then swung out . . . before stopping on realising the club wasn't even in his hand! Said club was now floating in the air over the troll's head, which made him stare up in confusion. Turning to see Hermione with her wand out, the traveller nodded in thanks before she gazed on the troll. "Time for a little 'squirrel manoeuvre,'" she then said as she aimed her wand at his crotch.

"_**OSCULUM PAPILIONIS!**_"

The troll screamed out as a bolt of energy slammed into his groin, literally punching out his legs from under him and sending him falling face-first into the floor, which stunned him enough for Hermione to call out, "_Finite!_" THAT caused the club to drop down on the troll's head, which knocked him clean out.

"Nicely done," Chikage said . . .

* * *

The Great Hall . . .

"Troll . . . in the dungeons . . . thought you ought to know . . .!"

* * *

Near the entrance to the tunnel to the Vanished Wing . . .

ANOTHER roar echoed through the hallways. "_Delightful_ . . .!" Chikage hissed.

"That came from the Transfiguration classroom!" Harry said. "C'mon!"

He and Aesup charged down the hallway, wands out and at the ready, with Hermione right behind them. Chikage moaned before she pointed her wand down the north corridor at the troll Aesup had burned with her spell. "_**VENTUS DRACONIS!**_" she barked.

Pansy gaped as a cyclonic wind tore down the hallway, tearing away portraits and ripping torches off the walls as the troll was literally pitched all the way down to the ante-chamber that connected the main part of the academic wing to the Divination and History of Magic classrooms. Said troll's head smashed into an overhanging archway which nearly crushed his skull as he finally collapsed to the floor, unmoving. "Nice!" Pansy said as she drew her wand. "By the way: 'Butterfly Kiss?'"

"Haven't you ever heard of the Butterfly Effect of chaos theory, Pansy?" the traveller asked as they raced down the hallway after their friends from Gryffindor.

"Actually, I haven't. Should I . . .?"

Just as they were about to turn the corner onto the corridor leading up to the Transfiguration classroom, a scream escaped the raven-haired Slytherin as she felt a dark shadow fall over her. Before she could raise a shield to protect herself, Chikage grabbed her by her waist and swung her clear of a falling club as she aimed with her wand. "_**OSCULUM PAPILIONIS!**_" she snarled as another blast of the Butterfly Kiss slammed into a troll, sending him careening down the south corridor past the ground floor bathrooms and through the picture windows out into the front lawn down the hill right into Loch Eigheach! "Alright, that's three of . . . MMULMPH!"

THAT was Pansy kissing her full on the lips. Rapid footfalls then heralded the arrival of their friends. "Chikage! Did you see . . .?" Harry began before stopping and gaping for a moment as Aesup and Hermione ran up to them, they also pausing to see Pansy passionately snogging the traveller. As the now-madly blushing brunette pulled away from Chikage, Harry then flustered. "Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt."

Chikage blinked before sighing. "No Life Debts, Pansy," she reminded the other girl before gazing at Harry. "Was that the one you went after?"

"Yeah! Made a total mess of Aunt Minnie's classro- . . .!"

"HARRY!" Hermione screamed out.

Everyone's eyes snapped over to stare down the corridor past the Muggle Studies classroom and the teachers' lounge onto the Long Bridge to see three more hulking forms lumbering in the general direction of the Great Hall. "Damn!" Harry snapped as he raced off down the hallway after them, Aesup at his side. "HEY, FRANKENSTEINS!" he screamed out as he levelled his wand. "OVER HERE! _**CULTELLUS TEMPESTAS!**_"

"_**K'ALP'UNG!**_" Aesup screamed out.

A hurricane of energy bolts ripped out of both wands into the trolls' backs, which made them bellow in rage as they spun around to see the annoying humans that had hurt them. As they moved to attack, the doors leading into the part of the residential wing close to the Great Hall opened, revealing a wide-eyed Severus Snape. "HARRY!" he screamed on seeing the young man standing at the other end of the Long Bridge, wand out and facing three lumbering - yet quite wounded, the potions master noted with a sense of personal pride - trolls, they now staggering towards Harry and his companions.

By then, Chikage had caught up with them, Pansy right behind her. "Harry, Aesup, keep them distracted for ten seconds," she said as she raised her wand.

"Lightning Axe?" Harry asked.

Chikage smirked. "What else?"

"No problem! _**CULTELLUS TEMPESTAS!**_" Harry bellowed out.

"_**K'ALP'UNG!**_" Aesup screamed.

The trolls all screamed out as another storm of cutting bolts slammed into them.

"_Spiritus Viatoris Antiqua . . . _"

That haunting voice seemed to echo over the Long Bridge as Severus perked just as the clear skies over Hogwarts suddenly darkened, a rumble filling the air.

"_Mea Major Natu Soror Caelorum . . . _"

The trolls on the Long Bridge paused as thunder echoed through the sky, their eyes suddenly turning up in confusion as crackles of energy flashed in the clouds.

"_Kenótētost A'strápsatō dè Teméntō . . .!_"

Albus suddenly appeared behind Severus. "What's going . . .?"

"GET DOWN!" the potions master screamed as he lunged for the headmaster to knock him down behind the protective fence around the patio as Chikage lowered the boom.

"_**DÍOST TÚKOST!**_"

And the late evening sky over Hogwarts suddenly became brightest noon!

* * *

Elsewhere, else when . . .

"Negi."

A confused blink. "Nicole?"

"I need ye for something."

A handsome teenager with dark reddish-brown hair in a stubby ponytail and brown eyes behind spectacles blinked as he stared at the older woman now before him . . .

* * *

Hogwarts . . .

Albus coughed away the dust and smoke as he tried not to be overwhelmed by the stench of burned troll flesh. Severus, who had flung himself over the headmaster to protect the older man from the shockwave and flying debris of the destroyed Long Bridge Chikage's Lightning Axe just kicked up, shook his head as he felt his head; the sound wave of that blast had nearly shattered his eardrums. "Are you alright, Albus?"

Albus shakily nodded as Severus helped him back to his feet just as Minerva, Pomona and Filius ran up to them after getting their charges safely into the dorms. "Albus! Severus! What on Earth just . . .?" the transfiguration mistress demanded as she skidded to a stop by the open doorway, and then she looked outside before her jaw dropped to the floor in disbelief. "Oh, MERLIN . . .!" she croaked.

Everyone surged outside, and then gaped at the Long Bridge.

Or rather, what was LEFT of the Long Bridge!

"Professor Dumbledore!"

Albus blinked before his eyes focused on the slightly-swaying girl at the other end of the destroyed span. "Miss Hirosaki! Are you alright?" he called back.

"I'm fine!" Chikage said, ignoring the muttering sounds from the direction of the dormitories as students and other staff crowded by the windows to gaze upon her, and then they turned to look down at the shattered Long Bridge, which was now missing a good HALF of its overall span. "But it appears we seem to have a troll infestation . . .!"

"_**LOOK OUT!**_"

The kids crowded at one end of the Long Bridge tensed on hearing Ron's scream, and then jolted as a moaning roar from behind them as Harry spun around just as one of the trolls that had been taken out inside the academic wing came charging towards them. Just as he was about to raise his club to smash the meat into the loch, though . . .

"_**ZANKŪ-SHŌ!**_"

The troll cried out as a bolt of energy slammed into his back, sending him flying between Hermione and Aesup, then past Harry, Chikage and Pansy, to soar over the shattered end of the Long Bridge and belly-flop right into the creek where three of his brothers' remains had fallen into right after Chikage's Lightning Axe had destroyed the bridge and incinerated them. Silence then fell as the five first-years took that in, and then all save Chikage turned to gaze on the woman who had just saved them; the traveller was now slowly moving to support herself on the inner stone rail.

Chikage smirked. "«_What are you doing here, Setsuna?_»" she asked in Nihon-go.

A sigh. "«_Nicole-obāsama is rather concerned, Chikage-san_,»" the brown-eyed Japanese teenager - appearing to be in her last year of middle school, the equal of a third-year student at Hogwarts - with the raven-black hair tied in a thick ponytail over her left ear replied as she came up, calmly sheathing her nodachi, Yūnagi, into its polished wooden scabbard. She was dressed in a school uniform: A maroon single-breasted blazer jacket with the crest of the Mahora Academy on her left side, underlying vest of the same colour, white button shirt and red bowtie, all over a red-and-gold plaid mid-thigh skirt, knee-high black socks and slip-on shoes on her feet. As Harry and his companions took that in, the newcomer took the chance to give the destroyed Long Bridge a quick glance before she shook her head. "«_Lightning Axe?_»"

"«_The Hallowe'en Feast was on_,»" Harry provided as Pansy walked over to help keep Chikage on her feet. "«_Three of those trolls were heading across the Long Bridge to the Great Hall. We had to keep them away to protect everyone else. Chikage had no choice but to use the Lightning Axe to stop them right in their tracks . . . _»"

Another roar echoed through the air as eyes spun towards Loch Eigheach. "Oh, no . . .!" Hermione groaned as she turned to see the troll Chikage had struck with a Butterfly Kiss surge out of the water and move to storm ashore . . .

. . . and run into a flying four-armed shuriken the size of the average man!

As people watched the now-impaled troll collapse dead to the ground - most of them gaping in disbelief - another girl then flipped down to land gently on the deck of the Long Bridge close to Setsuna. Straightening herself, she stepped into the open light to reveal herself to be in the same school uniform as Setsuna, though she was much taller, bustier and had a look of total serenity on her face, her brown eyes almost squinted closed, with brown hair cut straight at mid-neck save for a long, stringy ponytail flowing down well past her hips. "_Konban wa de gozaru, minna-dono!_" she called out in Japanese before she gazed in Albus' direction, an eyebrow arched in veiled amusement. "Forgive me for asking you this, _Dumbledore-dono_, but do you people have a magical zoo close to here?" she asked in accented English, her voice ringing loud and clear. "I must confess, the security doesn't seem very good!"

Laughter escaped from many viewing this, and then Harry tensed. "Wait! There's another troll! We left it behind in the east-side corridor . . .!"

"No need to panic. He's dead."

Footfalls echoed behind them as the two teenage girls turned. "_Negi-sensei_," Setsuna said as the newcomer walked up. "«_How bad was it?_»" she asked in Japanese.

"English, please, Setsuna," Negi Springfield instructed with a smile before he gazed over at a wide-eyed, delightfully grinning Albus, one of the young magi's hands holding the long staff-like wooden device wrapped in enchanted cloth, possessing a jagged, lightning bolt-shaped head, that served both as his wand and flying device. "Forgive us for dropping in so unexpectedly, Professor! I trust everyone is alright?"

Albus nodded. "We're about to confirm that ourselves, Professor Springfield! Would you and your delightful companions please be so kind as to join us in the Great Hall? Mister Potter, will you be so kind as to . . . OH, MY HEAVENS!"

"CHIKAGE!" Pansy screamed out in fright as the traveller then collapsed to the deck of the Long Bridge, others immediately rushing to her side . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	16. All Saints' Day

The Hospital Wing, Friday 1 November, before dawn . . .

"Oh, my head . . .!"

"_Ohayō gozaimashita de gozaru, Chikage-dono._"

Chikage's eyes slowly opened, and then she moaned as she slowly moved to sit up, keeping the blankets close to her as she found herself staring into the smiling face of a woman that, in one sense of the term, she had never known before . . . and in the other, had known her for what seemed an eternity. "Kaede . . . "

Kaede Nagase smiled as she held out a small bunch of bananas. "Hungry?" she asked in English, her eyebrow arched in amusement as she tilted her head.

"What are you doing here?"

"You called upon _Onē-sama_'s power to destroy those trolls," Kaede mused as she put the bananas in her lap and pulled off one to hand to her fellow Child Companion. "To say _Nicole-obāsama_ is somewhat upset at you is putting it lightly."

"So I was to allow my fellow students to be hurt, much less killed?"

The ninja chuckled. "Of course not. Saving your friends is always important. But not using _Onē-sama_'s power. You should know how _Onē-sama_ views such things."

Chikage blinked, and then she smiled. "True." She skinned the banana Kaede had given her before taking a bite. "I remember Setsuna and Negi. Who else?"

"Just us. Much that _Asuna-dono_, _Konoka-dono_ and _Nodoka-dono_ - not to mention those of _Negi-bōzu_'s other students who had formed _pactio_s with him before our unscheduled time-trip from 2002 to 2025 - wanted to come, _Nicole-obāsama_ didn't want to swamp _Albus-dono_ and everyone else here with a total mob."

Chikage smirked. "Especially THAT mob. What's the date and time back home?"

"Friday, the first of March, 2030. A half-hour after you left us."

A nod. "What about the others?"

"_Negi-bōzu_ was most impressed by the wand skills both _Harry-dono_ and _Aesup-dono_ demonstrated on those trolls last night. Even _Hermione-dono_ pulled off a very good Hover Charm to help stun that troll _Setsuna-dono_ finally struck down."

"Understandable. Harry's living under the threat of Tom Riddle and Aesup IS descent of one of the oldest - if not THE oldest! - magical family lines still alive and intact in this dimension's Earth." Chikage gazed at her. "I assume such might be true back home, but thanks to Grandmother Nicole, I can't think of it. What of you?"

A shake of the head and a smirk. "_Obā-sama_, even if she did want us to come, wouldn't hear of us crossing over with _that_ knowledge in our heads." Kaede shrugged. "In a way, I can understand it, but it is quite disconcerting none the less." She then winked at Chikage, her grin widening. "By the way, both _Setsuna-dono_ and I noticed what you've been doing with people like _Harry-dono_ and his friends. Aikidō?"

"No offense to people like you, but I do find it's the best art to use in this case. Aesup is also starting to teach them t'aekkyŏn since it's similar in many ways to aikidō." She then smirked. "Have they badgered you about your shuriken, much less Setsuna with her sword skills?" she asked as she gazed on the ninja.

"No, _Setsuna-dono_'s wings interested them more." As Chikage gaped at her, Kaede winked again. "When you passed out in _Pansy-dono_'s arms, _Setsuna-dono_ allowed her wings to sprout and she flew you here to put you in _Poppy-dono_'s care. Of course, everyone here has never encountered anyone with hanyō blood in her, so they - especially _Hagrid-dono_ - were badgering her with questions when I last looked in on her in the Hufflepuff common room. _Negi-bōzu_ was invited to stay with the Gryffindors last night. I dozed off here. We'll head back later to Oshika."

A nod. "Good."

"Good morning, Miss Hirosaki."

Chikage gazed over as the school's resident healer came in. "Good morning to you, Madame Pomfrey. I apologise for rudely intruding on you again."

A chuckle. "No need to apologise, my dear. You certain outdid yourself this time when you saved people from those trolls." Poppy then sat down beside her bed before indicating the ninja that was with them. "Fortunately, Miss Nagase here was more than capable of clearing up your body's _ki_ pathways so you can better use that power. Hardly had to use any sort of spell work or potions; most amazing."

"She told me you killed a tsidoki with a soulsword sometime ago; your first week here, in fact," Kaede noted. "What were one of THOSE things doing here, anyway?"

"Making History of Magic a sleeping class," Chikage noted.

The ninja nodded. "Ah!"

* * *

The Great Hall, a little later . . .

"_Ohayō gozaimashita, Negi-sensei._"

Negi looked over from his food, and then he smiled. "Setsuna, what did I say last night?" he asked as he gave Setsuna Sakurazaki a look.

A light blush crossed the swordswoman's face. "Speak English," she said in that language with a slightly more noticeable accent than Kaede used.

"Thank you," Negi said as he waved his student to a chair. "Now please, pick yourself off the floor and sit down so you can have something to eat."

She nodded as she took her seat, food immediately appearing before her as Negi returned to his tea. She leaned her sheathed sword on the table right beside Negi's wand. The people around them took in what they had seen, and then Hermione perked. "Professor Springfield, why is it Setsuna's nervous around you?" she then asked.

A sigh. "A host of reasons, Hermione. And PLEASE. I'm not a professor either in the normal or magical worlds. I'm just an English teacher. Call me 'Negi.'"

"But you're Percy's age!" Ron protested.

"Yes, that's true. It's the difference of teaching philosophies between Hogwarts and Merdiana, my alma mater." Negi gazed on the youngest Weasley boy. "You see, those who are directly or indirectly related to natives of the _Mundus Magicus_ in my dimension often begin magical training at a far earlier age than what is allowed here at Hogwarts. I began official schooling when I was four and graduated when I was ten." As people's jaws dropped in disbelief, he added, "I was considered quite the prodigy at the time given whom my father was, but there were children my age attending Merdiana when I was there. We don't divide by age lines like you do here. It's the level of your magical skill that matters more than physical age, as sometimes, the possession of magic forces you to mature emotionally much faster than your peers."

"I can understand that," Draco noted as many of the other people seated around the visitors from another Earth nodded. "My sister Raven and my cousin Cassiopeia - as well as Vince's sister Lotti, Greg's sister Ariel, Neville's sister Grace and Harry's sister Rose - all had to start wand-training at age four because of a very powerful self-sacrifice spell Chikage's grandfather came up with that was used by a friend of his from here ten years ago. _Desidero Infantis_. Do you know it?"

Negi nodded. "Master Ryūji told me about that spell once when I met him back in 2002." As people stared in confusion at him, he chuckled. "My apologies. A little history lesson, first. I was born in the year 1991 in Wales. I graduated from Merdiana ten years later, then was magically assigned to teach English at Mahora Girl's Junior High School in a town just outside of Tōkyō. A year after I arrived there, a very nasty time-travel accident flung myself and twenty-nine of my students - Kaede and Setsuna are two of them - forward in time from 2002 to 2025, arriving right at the very moment the Second Great Kantō Earthquake began." He gazed on Draco as many of the people nearby him stared in stunned disbelief at what he had just said. "I can truly sympathise with the person who cast the Lost Child spell to save your sister's life, Draco. When we emerged from the time-warp, one of my students fell victim to a vicious curse put on her - by my father, ironically! - to force her to remain on the grounds of Mahora on pain of death. As she was my student and I do take my responsibilities for protecting them quite seriously, I cast a spell I called _Protectus Infantis_, which is based on the _Desidero Infantis_ concept, but has a wider grasp."

"'Protect the Child,'" Daphne translated.

"It obviously worked," Tracey noted. "Even better, you survived casting it, which is more than what the person who saved Draco's sister and the others can say."

"It did," Setsuna then spoke up. "But it didn't protect our bodies - much less the bodies of all those _Negi-sensei_'s spell also saved, like Chikage - from all the damage they suffered from the quake. That's why it took us five years to recover."

"But at least you DID recover," Susan noted.

A nod. "We did. Actually, this day in our universe - the first of March, 2030 - was the day we were finally allowed to 'wake up' after having our souls reinserted into our bodies." Setsuna, as well as Kaede and Negi, had been briefed by Nicole concerning explaining the true nature of what they had become. "Chikage was the first of us to wake up, so she had a chance to get moving and get on with her Magical Quest right away." A sigh. "Hopefully, the next time we'll see her is when she comes back from her Quest after graduating from here. Which is scheduled for a couple . . . "

"Good morning, everyone."

Everyone perked as Minerva came up to them. "Good morning to you, Professor. I trust the damage from last night's fun wasn't too difficult to repair," Negi noted.

A smile. "Oh, it was quite easy to repair, even the damage to the Long Bridge, Mister Springfield," Minerva noted; Negi had corrected all the staff about his proper academic qualifications shortly after Chikage was moved to the Hospital Wing. "Just tell the house elves to clean it all up and they do it, quite easily and happily."

"Do they have any idea where those trolls came from, Professor?" Pansy asked; she was still a little shaken up from the previous night's events.

"I'm afraid not, Miss Parkinson." Minerva then perked as something else came to him. "Oh, you, Miss Granger, Miss Mun and Mister Potter will be excused from morning classes as the D.M.L.E. will be coming by to get your statements. Unfortunately, Miss Hirosaki's Lightning Axe caused a furor at the Ministry. Their sensors recorded it as a Class Six event and people are curious as to what happened." She then gazed on Negi. "As a matter of fact, would you join us, Mister Springfield? Professor Dumbledore is quite curious as to who this 'elder sister of the heavens' that Miss Hirosaki spoke of in her activation key before unleashing the Lightning Axe on those trolls is."

Negi and Setsuna gave her sympathetic looks. "Believe me when I tell you this, Professor McGonagall: It will boggle your very mind," the former then warned.

Everyone stared at him . . .

* * *

The headmaster's office, sometime later . . .

"Good morning, Albus."

"Good morning to you, Amelia," Albus said as he nodded greetings to the Director of the D.M.L.E. as she stepped out of the fireplace, followed by two other people. "Ah, Kingsley! You're here as well . . . oh, my! Nymphadora! First . . .!"

"HEY!" a pink-haired Auror trainee snapped as her hair seemed to writhe like the snakes on Medusa's head. "Don't call me that!" she snarled.

Albus winced; even now, a few months after she had graduated from Hogwarts as Head Girl and with an impressive amount of outstanding NEWTs under her belt, Nymphadora Tonks STILL was touchy when it came to her given name. "My apologies, Miss Tonks," he then said with a benign smile as the three visitors from the D.M.L.E. moved to sit down. "Lemon drops, anyone?" he asked as he offered his bowl of candy to them.

Tonks smiled as she took one while Kingsley and Amelia both declined; while the metamorphmagus Auror trainee didn't like ANYONE calling her by her given name, she had to admit that Albus was one hell of a great teacher as well as a caring headmaster. "So what happened here last night, Albus?" Amelia then asked as a house elf appeared with a tea tray. "Our sensors went totally crazy around 7:12 last night, registering a Class Six energy strike similar to that Class Three event that happened on the first Saturday of the school year. Since the _Prophet_ revealed what happened then - it was Rose Potter's use of this 'Lightning Axe' attack she was taught - I assume either Harry Potter or Chikage Hirosaki made use of that attack. Why did it happen?"

A sigh. "We had a troll attack here last night," Albus reported as the elf served tea to the headmaster's guests, and then popped out of the room. "Six of them, all told. Three were caught in the academic wing by Mister Potter, Miss Hirosaki, Miss Granger, Miss Mun and Miss Parkinson. They disabled them there, then discovered the other three advancing across the Long Bridge towards the Great Hall. They didn't know we were evacuating the students into the dormitories, so Mister Potter and Miss Mun distracted the trolls long enough for Miss Hirosaki to strike them down."

"What of the other trolls?" Kingsley asked.

"One was killed by a fire spell Miss Mun used as well as a cyclone _ki_ attack Miss Hirosaki can make use of," Albus reported. "Two others were slain by visitors from Miss Hirosaki's home dimension who came here immediately as a response to her use of the Lightning Axe. One was struck with a concentrated _ki_ blast and flung into the wreckage of the Long Bridge; the poor creature was killed on impact. The other was struck down by a very large, magically-hardened shuriken - a throwing star - after Miss Hirosaki sent it into the Hogwarts Lake with another _ki_ attack of her own."

The three visitors gaped. "We have more visitors from Chikage's dimension?" Amelia demanded as Tonks and Kingsley tried to pick their jaws off the floor.

"Yes," Albus smiled. "I . . . ah! There they are! Come in!"

The doors opened, revealing Minerva, accompanied by two others. "Good morning, Albus. Ah, Amelia, Kingsley, Miss Tonks!" the transfiguration mistress then greeted as she nodded to the visitors from the D.M.L.E., and then she waved Negi and Setsuna inside. "Miss Nagase is still with Miss Hirosaki in the hospital wing. Poppy won't let her free until both she and Miss Nagase are satisfied to her health. Mister Potter has gone to fetch Miss Mun, Miss Granger and Miss Parkinson from the Vanished Wing."

Jaws dropped. "The Vanished Wing?" Tonks demanded. "But I thought NO ONE could get into the place! No one knows HOW to get into it!"

"Fortunately, Ryūji did get into it and tried to restore it back to normal while he was here," Albus said as Negi moved to take his seat, Setsuna placing herself against the wall near the window, keeping protectively close to her homeroom teacher. Albus, Amelia and Kingsley were quick to sense the alert stance the young swordswoman from Kyōto was currently in and her clearly obvious desire to protect Negi. "Chikage has vowed that she will try to succeed where her grandfather failed . . . ah!"

The floo fire in the fireplace flared. "Albus?" a woman's voice called out. "I have Hermione's parents with me! Can we come through?"

"Please do, Janet," Albus called back.

Three people then arrived. "Good morning, Albus," Janet Boleyn said as she brushed herself off before drawing her wand and cleaning off the small amounts of soot from Daniel and Jean Granger, and then she conjured a loveseat for the dentists to use. "Our apologies for being later than expected, but the Doctors Granger had to make arrangements concerning their morning appointments and babysitting for their younger daughter before they could come here to look in on their older daughter."

The visitors from the D.M.L.E. gaped in surprise. "I understand. Thank you so much, Janet, for bringing them here," Albus said as he rose. "Doctor Granger, Doctor Granger, we meet at last. I'm Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster here."

Both were on their feet as Daniel took his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Headmaster," Daniel said as Albus took his wife's hand and courtly kissed it. "Hermione speaks of you with great reverence. And from what we've read of you in all the history books she has, you've earned your reputation many times over."

"You're too kind to me," Albus said. "Please, sit down. Tea? Lemon drops?" He then caught himself before he gazed on them. "Ah, my apologies. I forgot that you're both dentists. Would you prefer some non-sugary snacks instead?"

"Tea is fine, thank you," Jean said as Janet moved to serve them.

"Um, Albus . . . "

Albus perked. "What is it, Amelia?"

"Um, not that I really don't object to their presence here as they are the parents of a child that we need to speak to, but it IS quite odd for two muggles to be brought to the school," Amelia noted. "After all, it's really . . . "

"That's why Dame Janet came with us," Daniel said as he took the offered tea cup in hand, and then he sipped from it. "We realise your government has gone out of its way to legislate away any possible interference from the normal world, but you can't simply ask us to stand by while our daughter is being threatened by a troll."

"Much less multiple trolls," Jean added before she sipped her own tea, and then she gazed thankfully on Janet. "Fortunately, as she is the Magical Sheriff of West Sussex, Dame Janet was more than pleased to become Hermione's magical guardian while she's attending school at Hogwarts." She then blinked. "Is something wrong?"

Gobsmacked looks were on Kingsley's and Tonks' faces while Amelia looked stunned and Albus was visibly wincing. "Oh, Merlin . . .!" Tonks then breathed out as she turned to stare in wide-eyed awe at Janet Boleyn. "You're a MAGICAL SHERIFF?"

Janet smiled. "I am indeed, Trainee Auror Tonks. My proper title and style is as follows: _Dame Janet Cassandra Boleyn, Dame Bacheloress of the Realm, Her Majesty's Magical Shire Reeve and Magistrate Magical of the Western Ceremonial Ridings of the Loyal County of Sussex_," she said with pride in her voice. "And while I personally am not the least bit annoyed at Doctor Granger for telling you that, I must now insist that all of you take Loyal Oaths to the Crown - which will certainly NOT interfere in your duties serving Her Majesty's Ministry of Magic - ultimately for your protection."

"Why is that, Madame?" Kingsley asked; he looked almost as stunned as Tonks was when it came to the revelations behind Janet.

"Because if those who either still see themselves as loyal to the arch-traitor Voldemort . . . " - Janet ignored the shakes and jolts from the three visitors from the D.M.L.E. on her saying that particular name while Setsuna simply shook her head and Negi tried not to grin too much - " . . . much less those people in the Ministry who would consider our very existence an ugly and dire threat to their sense of power learned of us, then we would have problems. You'll probably recall what happened on Sunday when the people of Rhosan Green made their decisions concerning their future."

Amelia nodded. "More than understandable, Dame Janet. And I'll be perfectly happy to swear such an oath if you feel it proper. May I ask where I can do this?"

"I will inform the Magical Sheriffs of the counties where you currently reside that you wish to do this and they will make the necessary arrangements," Janet stated. "In your case, Amelia, that will be John Dumfries; he's the Magical Sheriff of Bute. For you two, Sergeant Shacklebolt, Auror Tonks, as you both currently are residents of old London, it will be Hogan Roper. You'll be contacted when it's time to see them."

Amelia gaped. "John Dumfries? He was a year ahead of me at Hogwarts! I . . .!" She then flustered. "I always wondered what happened to him!"

Tonks, Jean and Janet all grinned while Setsuna gazed in understanding at Amelia; all of them could detect the fiery passion of a woman remembering a deep crush in Amelia's words about her old schoolmate. "I'm sure Janet will be more than pleased to help get this done as soon as possible," Albus stated, and then he perked. "Ah! There are Miss Mun's and Miss Parkinson's parents and Mister Lupin. Come in, please!"

"_Annyŏng haseyo, Dumbledore-kyojangsŏnsaengnim_," the cheery voice of Yong'il Mun called out as he walked in, his wife Aemo Pak at his side, she carrying a wrapped gift for the headmaster. After the Korean couple bowed to him, they stepped inside the room, almost immediately followed by Malcolm and Gruoch Parkinson (both of them being escorted by Severus Snape), they in turn followed by Remus Lupin. "I trust everyone was set aright after those _t'ŭrol_ came here?" As he had only lived in Britain for a little over eight years, the Korean wand-crafter still had a considerable tendency to pronounce certain words using Korean sounds in lieu of English sounds.

"Indeed it was, Yong'il . . . ah! _Kamsahamnida_, Aemo," Albus said as he took the offered gift from Aemo, and then he bowed deeply in thanks. "Please, everyone, do take your seats? Tea? Lemon drops, anyone?" After people politely refused and they took their seats, with Minerva and Severus then heading out so they could return to their classrooms, he then perked. "Ah, there they are! Come in, everyone!"

"Sorry we took so long, Professor," Harry said as he stepped inside, followed by Hermione, Aesup and Pansy. "Chikage and Kaede are getting a place set up so we can review our memories of what happened last night . . . oh, hello, everyone!"

Albus perked as people greeted him in return. "What place is that, Harry?"

"The Room of Requirement, Professor," Hermione reported. "It's on the seventh floor of the academic wing, just right above the library."

The headmaster perked as confused looks crossed the faces of all the wizards and witches present. "I've never heard of this room," Malcolm stated.

"Nor did I," Remus stated. "What is it, anyway?"

"It's a magical version of a holodeck from _Star Trek: The Next Generation_, Uncle Moony," Harry said. "You have to go to where the picture of Barnabas Hollowell is located, then pace in front of it for three times while imagining what you want the room to be. The door to the Room then appears and you walk inside."

Albus blinked, and then he chuckled. "I think I might know what you're talking about, Harry. I recall encountering a room in that location of the school some years ago but could never get into it later. Lizzy, will you join us?" he then called out.

_Pop!_ "What is the problem, Master-headmaster?" Lizzy asked.

"Lizzy, do you know of the Come-and-Go Room?"

The elder elf perked, and then she nodded. "Yes! Lizzy knows of Comes-and-Goes Room! You goes up to seventh floor over library and walks in front of picture of Master Barmy Barnabas three times befores you goes inside the Comes-and-Goes Room. All Master-headmaster has to does is thinks of what he wants and Comes-and-Goes Room makes it!" She then looked up and over in the general direction of the library. "Ah! Mistress Chikage and Mistress Sneaky-Lady is there now! Lizzy will takes you up!"

She snapped her fingers . . .

. . . and everyone then found themselves in a corridor of the academic wing three floors up from Albus' office. "Oh, my heavens!" the headmaster gasped before he then stared in veiled amusement at Lizzy. "Lizzy, much that we didn't mind that, but PLEASE! Warn us next time you do that!" he then playfully scolded the elf.

Lizzy looked sad, though her mouth was curled in a smile. "Oh, Lizzy is a bad elf! Lizzy must punishes herself most terribly!" _Pop!_

Everyone was staring wide-eyed at him. "Albus! You were TEASING that poor lady!" Remus scolded as he gave the headmaster a scandalised look.

Albus then winced as he gave the werewolf an apologetic look in return. Suddenly, a door then appeared opposite the painting of Barnabas the Barmy, opening to reveal a smiling Kaede Nagase. "Ah, _minna-dono_, there you are. Please come in."

Everyone moved to walk in . . .

. . . and then they stopped, their jaws dropped in disbelief. "What in Merlin's name IS this place?" Kingsley demanded as he and Tonks reached for their wands.

"A replication of my scrying room at the Megatōkyō Spiral."

Eyes focused on the lone girl in the centre of this vast circular space - the real space in the Spiral was forty metres wide - lined on all sides with thick plate glass windows four metres tall, giving everyone a spectacular view of Megatōkyō in the year 2030 from a vantage point well over 1900 metres above ground. "Oh, my heavens!" Albus said as he walked over to one of the windows to gaze out west from the Spiral, his eyes immediately tracing the four spiral rings that surrounded the central tower. "And your grandfather built this place in just TWENTY-TWO months, Chikage?"

Chikage, who was seated in the middle of the room on a stone chair, smiled as she stood. "He wasn't alone in building it, Professor Dumbledore. There was a team of nearly two thousand involved in the construction. Multi-skilled magi like Grandfather. Wand-wizards from across the planet. Technomages. Goblins. Other sentient artisans. Various therianthrope and human magical artisans from the _Mundus Magicus_ belonging to the Builders' Guild in Ariadne . . . " She then chuckled as she exchanged a knowing look with Kaede and Setsuna. "All we were missing were boomers," she then added.

Kaede and Setsuna laughed. "What are boomers?" Hermione asked.

"Cyberdroids," Chikage said. "It's a portmanteau meaning 'cybernetic android,' Hermione. A machine, built most often in humanoid form, but possessing organic parts within it, thus it could be classified as a lifeform in its own right. In essence, the normal version of house elves on our world and time. 'Boomer' is a slang term for them coined by the man who first created them, Professor Katsuhito Stingray." She pointed off in one direction. "Do you see that large, mountain-shaped arcology in Shinjuku, close to the Imperial Palace grounds?" As people looked, some heading over to the windows, she lowered her arm. "That is the headquarters of the Genom Company, the largest company on Earth in our time and the primary builder of boomers. They're the ones that are the primary force behind the reconstruction of Tōkyō into Megatōkyō."

"How big is that tower?" Malcolm asked.

"Once completed, it will be 1600 metres tall," Chikage said as she stood. "In the meantime, Director Bones and her companions have come to learn what happened last night, so let's get on with it. Memory Circle, times five!"

Ringed pentagrams then formed in a star formation around Chikage's chair. "Harry, right there," she said as she pointed to the north. "Aesup, there." She indicated the next one over. "Hermione, there." The next one. "And Pansy, over here." As Pansy stepped into that pentagram, Chikage gazed on Negi. "Unfortunately, as this is not the REAL Spiral, we need you to help replay events from last night."

"Certainly," Negi said. "Who is Mister Potter's guardian?"

"I am," Remus replied.

Negi gazed on him. "Defence Master Lupin, do you give permission for me to make use of a mind-probe spell on your charge so Director Bones and her friends may be able to witness last night's events replayed so that whatever necessary legal action, if deemed necessary, is taken to resolve this matter once and for all?"

A nod. "I certainly do, Master Springfield," Remus said.

Negi then gazed on Daniel and Jean. "Do you give permission for me to make use of a mind-probe spell on your daughter so that Director Bones and her friends may be able to witness last night's events to allow the necessary legal action to be taken?"

Surprised that the young wizard from Wales was asking THEM instead of Janet Boleyn - the Magical Sheriff of West Sussex had been VERY explicit when it came to explaining what LITTLE rights they (even as Hermione's parents) had in the wizarding world - about this, both of Hermione's parents nodded. "We do, sir," Daniel said.

Negi nodded, and then asked the same of Yong'il and Aemo, and then Malcolm and Gruoch. Once permission was granted, he turned to Chikage. "When did it all begin?"

"Seven o'clock in the evening," she said as she stood on the last memory circle.

"Alright, then." With that, he lifted his wand into the air. "_Rastel Mascir Magister_," he began as the wand began to glow as it floated out of the palm of his hand. "_Telepathia: Harold James Potter, Hermione Jane Granger, Pansy Isabella Parkinson, Aesup Mun, Chikage Hirosaki. Mater Musarum, Mnemosyne! Ad Se Nos Alliciat! Revelare Historia: Trigintaunus October, Septem Hora Post Meridiem! Initio!_"

Instantly, the room around them turned totally black before the ghostly images of last night's events began to replay themselves . . .

* * *

An hour later . . .

"So was it totally recorded down, Auror Tonks?"

"Yes, ma'am," Tonks said as she began to put the recording scrolls she had helped make away in her field bag. She then stared at Negi. "That is one very handy spell you have there, sir. Just like a pensieve, but you can project it."

"If you have, of course, the right materials to help project it," Negi said with a smile as everyone relaxed in the Room. After everything was done, Chikage had got it to reconfigure itself into the upper level of her two-floor apartment at the Spiral; they were now relaxing in the living room enjoying tea brought in by the house elves. "In a way, a pensieve is just as effective, Miss Tonks, but somewhat restrictive unless you built a big enough receptacle for everyone to make use of it at once. Since all of the students' parents and guardians had every right to learn what happened and it would be rather tedious to view memories from each person one after the other . . . "

"It was much better to use your magic," Albus finished.

"Yes." He then gazed on the five first-year students. "I'll be reporting this to Dame Nicole as soon as I'm back in Oshika with Kaede and Setsuna. Please be assured, reports of this incident will not go past her." He then smiled at Chikage. "But _please_, Chikage. If you HAVE to use the Lighting Axe to protect your friends again, use a different activation key than calling on _Onē-sama_'s power!"

"I'll remember that, Negi," Chikage promised him.

Albus perked. "And who or what is this 'elder sister' you speak of?"

"A three thousand million year old sentient intelligence whose physical form is that of a large spiky ball of pure mesonium crystal," Chikage answered. As people stared in wide-eyed disbelief at her, the traveller added, "Currently, the Crystal Palace - as she is normally addressed - is the size of your average aircraft carrier. When she first came to Earth in 1983, she was the size of a small mountain." She sipped her tea. "Many believe her to be the oldest sentient being in our universe."

Silence.

"Bugger!" Tonks breathed out.

"Why in Merlin's name would something of THAT nature come to your Earth?" Gruoch asked as she tried to pick up her jaw from the floor.

"Because in the year 1959 - just a year after she had graduated from our Hogwarts - Nicole McTavish, after she was thrown out of her family house by her parents all for being a lesbian of all things, was invited to come into the pocket dimension the Palace was then residing in, known to most of the sentient starfaring races at the time as 'the Outland,'" Negi answered. "The two literally bonded in that instant, which was understandable." A sigh. "It was a necessary thing, of course. _Onē-sama_ . . . " He then blinked back tears that had appeared in his eyes. "Well, I'm not sure you can imagine such a thing. **I** find it hard to imagine. An entity - in all practicality as human as you or I in all but physical body - and she was all ALONE for all those years in that place! And when Dame Nicole's magic somehow reached out to the Palace - at that time, she felt truly alone in the world . . . "

Silence.

"That's HORRIBLE!" Jean breathed out as Hermione broke out in tears.

"What happened to Dame Nicole's parents?" Daniel demanded.

"The only time anyone of the Clan McTavish of Killiecrankie can be banished from the clan as a whole is at the direct order of the Clan Matriarch," Chikage supplied. "At that time, that was Grandmother Nicole's own grandmother, Dame Victoria McTavish. When she learned of Grandmother Nicole's disappearance - and she certainly did NOT approve of it - in 1959, Dame Victoria (after confirming through the clan druids that Nicole was out there and alive) immediately banished Grandmother Nicole's parents and her brother from the family, never to be allowed back in. They're dead now."

"And good riddance, too!" Setsuna noted.

Chikage nodded. "When Grandmother Nicole returned to Earth twenty-four years later - with the Palace, of course - Dame Victoria declared her Matriarch-in-Waiting and her heiress apparent. She officially became Matriarch of the Clan McTavish in 2002, the year Toratotaka International, the company the Clan McTavish runs alongside their old Japanese allies, the Moroboshi Clan, was officially formed."

"So why would _Nicole-yŏgajangnim_ be wary of you tapping into the Palace's power to enhance your magic?" Aemo then asked.

Chikage sighed. "It is often said this: 'With great power comes great if not greater responsibility,'" she reported. "At the time I used that Lightning Axe on those trolls, I admit that I wasn't clearly thinking it through. Granted, there was a lack of considerable intelligence - we didn't know the teachers had been alerted to the trolls' presence by Professor Quirrell and everyone was being evacuated - but to use a Lightning Axe while calling on the power of someone like _Onē-sama_ . . . "

"It's akin to using a napalm bomb to clear out a rat infestation," Hermione finished after she sniffed back her tears and wiped her eyes.

A nod. "Exactly." Chikage then turned to Albus. "For that, Professor, I'll gladly accept what punishment you deem necessary because of this incident."

Everyone gaped at her. "Oh, don't concern yourself about that, Miss Hirosaki," the headmaster then said. "The damage wasn't permanent and you - as well as Mister Potter and Miss Mun - were, at the time, most profoundly concerned about the safety of your schoolmates. That is ALWAYS encouraged! Besides, I believe Mrs. McTavish has pretty much given you all the warning you'll need in this matter. I trust you will strive to seek out your own activation key in the future, especially since you plan to go to the _Mundus Magicus_ in this dimension during your fourth summer vacation."

"I do."

"Fair enough, then." Albus then turned to Amelia. "I trust you're more than satisfied as to what happened here and why, Amelia?"

"Far more than satisfied, Albus." The Director of the D.M.L.E. then turned to the children present. "And I will say this to you all: You all kept very cool heads last night even with what you were confronting and how many you faced. I'm sure the headmaster will be pleased to give out points for your actions." She then focused on Harry and Aesup. "Just be careful of those spells you used. I know of _Sectumsempra_; that's considered a dark curse, so don't use it on human beings, alright? Ditto with your versions that you used to keep those trolls busy for Chikage to deal with."

"We'll remember that, Aunt Amelia," Harry promised her.

People grinned as Amelia blushed on yet again being called "aunt" by Harry Potter. "In the meantime, since this is the first time ever that we had actual normals come visit our school - at least, to my memory! - Miss Granger, would your parents care for a quick tour?" Albus then said as he gazed on Hermione and her parents.

"Actually, Headmaster, while we're more than curious about what goes on in this place, we do have our own work to get back to and we don't want to abandon our patients even for a chance to see where Hermione is having so much fun," Jean said as she and Daniel stood, the others rising as they moved to step out of the Room. "We appreciate it, though." She then perked. "Tell me: Do you run parent-teacher days here?"

"'Parent-teacher days?'" Albus asked in confusion.

"A chance for the parents of your students to meet with your staff so they can learn what's going on with them," Daniel explained as everyone walked out of the Room.

The headmaster hummed. "Actually, we don't do that here, but it sounds like a most interesting idea," he then said as people headed to the stairs so they could return to Albus' office and the guests could then depart. "I'll bring it up with the other teachers as soon as I can, then we'll see what arrangements we can make."

"Some people might not like that sort of thing, Albus," Gruoch warned.

"Oh, I think they could be persuaded," Malcolm noted as he gave his wife a knowing look. "Don't worry about it, Albus. We'll pass on the idea to those other parents who have children here this year and see what they say about it."

"As will we," Yong'il added as people made their way down the stairs to the landing beside Albus' office. "We did it at Kŭmshillu, so why can't we do it here?"

"Good idea," Remus noted . . .

* * *

The Vanished Wing, after lunch . . .

"YOU KISSED CHIKAGE?"

Pansy's cheeks were now a bright red. The visitors from Chikage's dimension had left for home just after lunch. After parting from her parents at the front gates, Pansy had gone straight to her dorm room to get on her aikidōgi before racing to the Vanished Wing so she could have some time alone. Daphne and Tracey had spotted her right away and had come right after her. "Keep it down, Daph!" she then scolded as she glared at her oldest friend. "I don't need that blurted out to the whole school, you know!" She flustered before relaxing in seiza in the dōjō. "When we were chasing those trolls, she sensed one come right at me, grabbed me by the waist and lifted me away before she blasted it with a Butterfly Kiss; that was the one Kaede got later with her big throwing star." A shrug. "It just . . . well, HAPPENED!"

Daphne and Tracey were both grinning at her. "Well?" the latter probed.

"Well what?" Pansy demanded.

"How was it?" Daphne asked.

The brunette's cheeks darkened even more. "Well, it WAS my first kiss . . .!"

The other girls both cooed out as they gave her knowing looks. "First kiss?" Daphne then said before she gazed on Tracey. "Do you believe it, Trace?"

"And she's as red as a tomato!" the ponytailed girl mused. "It's love, Daph!"

"What is love?"

All three turned, and then they gasped. "Get those shoes off!" Pansy snapped as Juno nearly jumped out of her uniform. "You don't waltz onto the floor of a dōjō with shoes or socks on! Chikage'll flay you alive if she caught you doing that!"

Juno quickly got her shoes off as Pansy headed over to the small walk-in closet near the door to get out a rag and a bucket of water to clean the place where the second-oldest of the Meretrice quints had stepped down on. Staring at the brunette in disbelief as she watched Pansy HAND-WASH the floor, Juno then sputtered, "Wh-wh-what are you doing? That's something for the house elves to do, not you . . .!"

Daphne and Tracey came over. "Juno, believe it or not, wizards and witches in Japan who also learn the muggle martial arts do this as well in a dōjō, even if they DO have house elves!" the former said as she pointed. "Read the sign!"

Juno looked over, and then she blinked:

_**NO HOUSE ELVES PAST THIS POINT (UNLESS IN DIRE EMERGENCIES)!  
NO USE OF MAGIC TO CLEAN THE DŌJŌ!  
MAGICAL COMBAT ONLY ALLOWED UNDER SUPERVISION OF A PROFESSOR!  
REMEMBER TO REMOVE ALL FOOTWEAR BEFORE STEPPING ONTO THE DŌJŌ FLOOR!  
by order of the Headmaster**_

"Oh, dear!" she breathed out as she covered her mouth. "I didn't mean . . . "

"It's alright," Pansy said as she finished wiping everything down. "There, it's okay. C'mon onto the floor; bow when you do it. You have to do that."

Juno nodded as she stepped onto the raised floor, and then she bowed. "Why do something like that while you're in this place?" she then asked.

"It's the way all dōjōs are run, even those here in Britain the muggles use to learn martial arts," Daphne said as she headed to where some floor mats were piled up to set one more out for their visitor. "So what are you doing here, Juno?"

"I came to learn more of last night's most interesting events with those rather uncouth trolls," Juno said as she sat down where Daphne indicated, and then she gazed on Pansy. "Everyone at lunch could see right away there were things neither you, nor Marquess Harold, Baroness Hermione, Lady Aesup or Lady Chikage spoke of."

"Well, there was a kiss involved," Tracey noted.

"Between Pans and Chikage," Daphne added.

"Guys!" Pansy snapped.

Juno blinked as she gazed on her raven-haired housemate. "You fancy the Lady Chikage? I must applaud your exceptionally good taste, friend Pansy."

Pansy's cheeks reddened even more as she waved Juno off. "Hey! Hey! Hey!" she barked out as Daphne and Tracey both broke down in giggles. "I only just kissed her! I'm not gonna do what Libera's doing with Sally-Anne, for Merlin's sake!"

More laughter from Daphne and Tracey as Juno smiled. The Meretrice sisters, all their peers had been quick to learn, were rather quite open and frank when it came to what the eldest of them clearly wanted to do with one Sally-Anne Perks . . . much to the normal-born girl's ongoing embarrassment; Libera personally didn't seem to care when it came to revealing her clear desire to "eventually properly ask for Sarah's hand in true matrimony." "Still, you have to admit, winning Chikage over would be a pretty big coup for anyone," Tracey then said as she wiped her eyes. "She's clearly very powerful, insanely knowledgeable, honourable to a fault, quite mature . . . "

"Yeah, that's true. Pity she comes from another dimension," Daphne then added.

Pansy sighed. "That's true."

"What does the Lady Chikage's birthplace have to do with this?" Juno asked.

"When he was here, her grandfather discovered that he couldn't stay more than one solar year - just a little over one calendar year when it's not a leap year, in other words - without avoiding being phased back into his own dimension," Tracey explained. "Hence, during the summers he was staying with the Tore family wherever they lived, Chikage's grandfather went on 'summer trips' to different dimensions to learn different ways of doing magic; a lot of which, he later passed on to us."

"Chikage's planning to do the same thing," Daphne added.

Juno then nodded. "Ah, I understand."

"Thus, in the end, Chikage will have no choice but to go home," Pansy added. "The obverse is true as well. If anyone wanted to go to Chikage's universe, they could only stay there for year before being forced to come home." She decided now wasn't the time to mention the one way AROUND that, not even to her two oldest friends. Pansy was STILL trying to digest what Chikage had told her the previous afternoon.

"I see," Juno mused. "These summer excursions. Will others go with her?"

"She hasn't said anything about that yet," Pansy noted. "Remember the night when we got the chance to see the _Mundus Magicus_ in Astronomy class?" As Juno nodded, Pansy then shrugged. "I think if the parents would go for it, it'll be quite the class trip. Chikage said her granddad left behind a special rune and arithmantic text that would help others travel through the interdimensional barriers here at Hogwarts, but it went missing some years later." A hum then escaped her. "I'd be interested in going."

"It'd be something," Daphne noted. "Our parents might not like it, though."

"Yeah, that's a point," Tracey muttered.

Everyone stared at her, all of them quick to detect the touch of fear and pain in Tracey's voice. "What is it, Trace?" Pansy asked.

A sigh. "Remember that letter I got this morning?"

"It was from your granddad, right?" Daphne wondered.

"Yeah. Turns out that he has a friend who's interested in me."

Silence.

"Say WHAT?" Pansy and Daphne both screamed out in shock.

A nod. "You know Xavier Leolin?"

Their jaws dropped. "Wait a minute! You mean _Grand-uncle_ Xavier Leolin?" Pansy demanded. "From near Upper Flagley? THAT Xavier Leolin?"

A nod. "The same. Got a seat in the Wizengamot and everything!" A sigh as Tracey then scowled. "All he DOESN'T have is a wife or a child! But he told Granddad that he's willing to wait for either me, Kim, Calli or Darlene to become of age . . . "

"A contract marriage, in other words," Daphne finished.

"Yeah," Tracey lamented. "Harry Birthday to me . . . "

"Is that not a good thing?"

All three stared in shock at Juno. "Um, Juno, since you don't know this, I'll fill you in on it: This guy's in his late FIFTIES!" Daphne stated before she waved to Tracey. "Tracey's ELEVEN, Kim's NINE, Calli's EIGHT and Darlene's SIX! Why should she, much less they, think of something like THAT? And NOW of all times?"

"I would certainly agree to that."

All four turned to see a smiling Chikage standing at the doorway to the dōjō. As the traveller bowed to the spirit of the dōjō and then walked inside, Juno turned back to Tracey. "Still, there is a good side to this, friend Tracey. Your family are magical yeomanry. Lord Xavier is a baron with a vote in the House of Lords Wizengamot. An ACTIVE vote atop that, unlike the deplorable situation with families such as mine or the Baroness Hermione's for that matter. Are you not concerned about that?"

"Juno, Tracey is now twelve years old," Chikage stated as she knelt down to join them. "And by the way, Tracey: Happy Birthday." As Tracey gave the traveller a smile, she turned back to Juno. "Only now is she discovering what being a woman is ultimately about. She should not have to worry about becoming a wife THIS early in her life. And with someone she looks on as a favoured grand-uncle rather than a potential husband." She smirked. "I realise you were raised in quite an admirably free-spirited community, Juno, especially given what I witnessed of both Erebus and Ophion when I caught them in the southwest classroom here after Sunday's vote." As Daphne and Pansy gaped in disbelief at her and Tracey looked like she wanted to simply tune out the traveller's words, Chikage shrugged as she gazed on Juno. "Your cousins and friends were not so blessed. Please, for their sake as well as yours: Don't be so hard."

"Erebus . . . and Ophion . . . are LOVERS?" Daphne squealed out.

"Well, they may not seek each other's hand in the future, but they don't mind each other's intimate company," Juno noted. As Pansy's and Daphne's jaws dropped even further and Tracey looked almost on the verge of fainting, she added, "Still, the touch of Eros has already struck them both quite hard and they now seek to better understand themselves." She then smiled. "I was pleased to help them on occasion." Squawks escaped the other Slytherin girls as Juno gave Chikage a knowing smile. "While I certainly will not marry Erebus as he is related to me through my father, Ophion is a very good possibility as he is related through his mother to Achelois' family. The Collinses and the Runcorns have always been magically VERY powerful. AND their loyalty to the Crown has been unquestioned for over a millennia. If I wish to press our family's hopes of restoring ourselves in society, we need allies." She gazed on Tracey. "If you truly care for your family, friend Tracey, you should keep this in mind."

Tracey moaned before passing out on the floor. As Daphne and Pansy moved to help revive her, Chikage stared at Juno. "That, Juno, is what I meant."

Juno clearly looked a little disappointed . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	17. The Curse of Maha

The library . . .

"So you two are lovers?" Hermione eeped.

Erebus and Ophion both shrugged. "We are intimate and have been for almost a year, friend Hermione," the former then said. All three of them were relaxing in a private study room in the library, quite separated from the main hall or other such study rooms. The normal-born girl often staked out this particular room when she wanted to be alone. Today, the two boys from Rhosan Green had got there first.

"We may consider a handfasting in the not-so-distant future, but it depends on how we eventually come to view those of the opposite gender such as you," the latter added. Hermione had been quick to note how both young men - and in her eyes, they were both young _men_ instead of boys - found it quite easy to speak of a subject that was still taboo in many parts of normal society. "Some of our female friends have also shared beds with us in the past, but now that we're free of any restraints . . . "

"You want to see what exists outside the bounds of your village first, right?" Hermione asked as she gave them both curious looks.

They nodded. "You seem relieved to learn that," Erebus then mused.

A shrug. "That's true. It's actually one of the things about the wizarding world that I think is quite wonderful," she noted. "Back in normal society, a lot of people would look at you strange and think you're weird if they learned you were gay, lesbian or bi. Some of the fanatics in the bunch would try to kill you because you would be monsters in their eyes, 'violating' some ordnance in the Bible for being gay. Here, being gay's accepted as par for the course and has been for decades."

"How do you view yourself?" Ophion then wondered.

"Conflicted."

Both boys perked. "In what way?" Erebus asked.

"Well, before I came here, I was pretty much alone among my peers back in primary school," she admitted. "I've always been very smart. It's the way I am. But being smart doesn't gain you much in the way of friends. And I . . . " A shrug. "Well, I never really learned how to deal with people who aren't as smart as I am."

"As witness what we heard happened yesterday in Charms," Ophion stated.

"Has that lout properly apologised to you about that?" Erebus demanded.

"Actually, he came down to me last night after Setsuna took Chikage in to see Madame Pomfrey and told me he was sorry for what he said," Hermione admitted. "He did sound pretty sincere, but something tells me his brothers were involved."

"Which is a good thing," Ophion noted. "I haven't known Ronald as much as you have, but from what I've seen of him, he seems not to care too much for what many of our peers have been doing at the Lady Chikage's and Marquess Harold's prompting."

She considered that for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah, he's been like that all along. He was prompted by his mother to try to be Harry's friend right at the start of school. It seemed to be for honourable reasons; no one in 'mainstream' society knew where Harry was living and Mrs. Weasley was worried Harry might have had problems fitting in when he came here." She leaned back in her chair. "But Harry fit in fine, and then, the morning after the Sorting Ceremony and the start-of-year feast, began to follow Chikage's lead in promoting a lot more house unity than what existed when his parents, much less Ron's, were students. That didn't sit well at all with Ron, especially when Harry began to show that he wouldn't fall into that 'Gryffindors must always hate Slytherins' garbage that's been propagated for years at this place."

Both boys nodded. "Cousin Blaise was quick to tell us of that vile insult Ronald delivered unto Blaise's mother one day," Erebus noted. "He also told us how both you and Marquess Harold moved to apologise to the Potions Master for the lout's words. Why did you try to do that, Hermione? He was not worthy of that!"

"His actions reflected badly on all of Gryffindor," she stated. "Professor Snape - and rightly so, I should add - took fifty points off because of what Ron said. It was a vulgar, crass and ugly thing to say, especially when it was clearly obvious that Blaise was really bothered that he's lost not only his father, but five stepfathers for reasons neither he nor his mother understand." She sighed. "I just hope that Jane's father can find out what's going on so he doesn't have to mourn another stepfather." Hermione knew that Harry had contacted Hogan Roper about the matter with Vanessa Zabini sometime after Blaise's confrontation with Ron at the Great Hall. She then gazed on her current companions. "Yet what does Ron see? All he sees is that Mrs. Zabini got great inheritances from each of her husbands, which currently makes her one of the wealthiest people in wizarding Britain. And since she was a Slytherin . . . " A shrug, and then she stated in a horribly mocking voice, "Oh, she must have killed them to get their money!" She then shook her head. "How utterly STUPID can that be? And that attitude's been going on for YEARS!" she spat out.

"I can see why you were sorted into Gryffindor."

All three looked to see Blaise standing at the end of the table. "It's what I believe in, Blaise," Hermione stated as she gazed on him. "Has Jane's father . . .?"

The dark-skinned boy lightly smiled. "Actually - and I know Harry and Chikage were concerned about this - Sir Xavier just discovered what happened."

"A curse?" Ophion asked.

"Yes. A bad one. He managed to exorcise it from Mother, but . . . "

Silence fell as Blaise felt tears in his eyes. Staring at him, Hermione blinked before she immediately surged up to draw him into her arms. Stunned by the show of automatic and passionate sympathy from the normal-born girl, he felt what control he had over his emotions go as sobs burst from his lips. Immediately, both Ophion and Erebus also added their embraces to Hermione's as Blaise continued to weep.

A voice then called out from nearby, "What's wrong?"

Everyone save Blaise turned to see a worried Harry standing nearby. Ophion immediately pulled away to take Harry aside and whisper in his ear as Blaise continued to cry and hold Hermione tight. After a minute, Harry squeezed his eyes closed as he nodded in understanding, and then he turned to head over and place comforting hands on the crying boy's shoulders. "I grieve with you, my friend," he whispered.

Blaise blinked, and then he turned to accept Harry's embrace. "I prayed for so long . . . " he hissed out before pulling away from the other boy as he wiped his eyes. "That SOMEONE would come along and explain why Mother had to cry every time one of my fathers died and had to be put into the ground . . .!" A sniff. "And now . . .!"

"What's going on here?"

Everyone turned to see Draco, Vincent and Gregory standing there. "Real bad news, Draco," Harry said before gazing at Blaise. "Aunt Vanessa's finally been freed of that curse that hurt her for so long, but . . . " He then bit his lip.

"It's too late for his stepfather," Hermione quietly said as she wiped her eyes.

Draco blinked, and then he walked over to hug his friend, Vincent and Gregory immediately adding their hugs. "I grieve with you, my friend," he whispered.

"Thanks," Blaise burbled.

Harry stared at them, and then he shook his head as Hermione came over to join him. They then moved away to give Blaise a chance to be with his housemates. "It's so awful!" she whispered. "She'll get to live, but he'll lose another father . . .!"

"Yeah," he acknowledged that with a curt not, and then he blinked before something came to him. "Wait a minute . . . " he breathed out.

"What?"

He then grinned. "There's a possible way out for Uncle Stefan."

"How?"

That was Blaise, who was staring in wide-eyed hope at Harry. "Chikage," the latter then said before staring at Hermione. "The soulsword! She told us after she killed that tsidoki that a soulsword can be used to destroy the magic of curses!"

Hermione blinked, and then she grinned. "Let's go!"

Everyone watched her race off, and then they ran after her . . .

* * *

The Vanished Wing . . .

"So you can't use the soulsword?" Hermione asked, a horrified look on her face.

"Sadly, no," Chikage said as she scanned the unrolled sheet of parchment Blaise just handed her. Everyone was gathered in the northeast classroom. The parchment had been sent by Hogan Roper with the morning post so that Blaise could better understand (with Poppy Pomfrey's help) what was ultimately happening to his stepfather. Taking a deep breath, Chikage then gazed at Blaise. "Please understand that I AM sympathetic to your feelings, Blaise. And I can understand what prompted Hermione and Harry to ask me of that. If I could help you, I would. Believe me when I say that."

"I know." Blaise nodded. "Why can't it be done this time?"

A sigh. "While a soulsword COULD be used in cases of possession - that was one of the things it was ultimately designed to do - the type of spiritual micro-surgery that would be required in this case would most certainly doom Mr. Martin to a most agonizing death." She then gazed on the others. "And sadly, I don't have the control - to say anything of the experience - necessary to use a soulsword in this manner."

Hermione bowed her head. The others gazed on her. "Do not be sad about this, friend Hermione," Ophion then soothed. "You did try to help someone."

She looked up, and then she nodded. Even Draco and his friends were nodding to that. "Could there be anyone from your universe that could do this?" Blaise asked.

"One person," Chikage replied before a tired smile then crossed her face. "Good luck in trying to persuade her to help, though."

"Why wouldn't she help?" Draco asked.

A dry chuckle. "Draco, she is nine hundred years old." As people's jaws dropped in shock, she added. "Atop that, she spent most of her life - up to about 1984 in my dimension - as nothing more than a disembodied spirit that was initially formed from the memories of dozens upon dozens of ninjutsu grandmasters who saw her simply as a handy receptacle of martial arts knowledge. Passed on from host to host like an honour sword was passed on by a head-of-house to a worthy heir. Totally uncaring of the very simple fact that in 1808, she gained full sentience and clearly did not desire to remain nothing more than a slave." A sigh. "Because of that, she - her name is Negako Moroboshi - simply does not care a lot for human beings. Normal, paranormal or magical. And even if she COULD be persuaded to come here, I strongly doubt Grandmother Nicole will ALLOW her to come here, especially after last night's escapade." She shrugged. "So with that denied us, we need to find a local solution to this matter. And fortunately, thanks to Jane's father, we can call upon this."

"This" was a huge artist's scrapbook the size of a large television screen, one that had been carefully preserved with charms, which had been in a shelf on one side of the room. As people gathered around her, Vincent asked, "What is this, anyway?"

"Grandfather's _ki_ chart notebook," Chikage answered. "It has a list of all his observations about how particular spells, charms and hexes could come to affect the target's personal _ki_ field. Fortunately, Jane's father called on one of Aesup's maternal uncles, who is an expert in _Han'ŭihak_ as well as being a certified magical healer, to take a look at Mr. Martin. This body chart here . . . " - She pointed to the parchment Blaise gave her - " . . . indicates anomalies in Mr. Martin's _ki_ pattern Healer Pak eventually located on his body which could possibly - and again, I say POSSIBLY! - be after-effects of the curse that was put on Blaise's mother."

"And your grandfather studied all THIS?" Hermione exclaimed.

"No wonder he was in Ravenclaw!" Draco breathed out.

Chikage smirked. "Let's begin . . . "

Everyone fell silent as the traveller examined each section of the chart, and then she flipped through the sketchbook to scan various diagrams Ryūji had drawn of what he had seen in his studies. After a minute, Chikage walked over to the shelf to draw out another sketchbook to scan through that, and then she paused as she gazed on one page. The others took note of this, and then looked themselves. Jaws then dropped. "Same pattern," Blaise said as he pointed to a cluster of the chart done on his stepfather, and then he pointed to what Ryūji had written in his sketchbook.

"It is," Chikage stated, her face frozen in an icy glare.

"What is it?" Hermione wondered.

A sigh. "_Translatus English_," Chikage then called out. As the kanji and kana on the page turned to English words, she stared at Harry. "Recognise the name?"

Harry looked . . . and then he instantly went white. "Oh, _hell_ . . .!"

"'Curse of Maha.' What does that mean?" Draco asked.

A sudden torrent of coughs and gargling then turned everyone's attention to Harry, who had got himself over to a garbage pail so he could throw up his lunch. "Harry!" Hermione gasped as she ran over to comfort him as his body quaked.

"Erebus?"

He perked. "What is it, Lady Chikage?"

Chikage nodded to the doorway of the classroom. "Northwest classroom. My desk is the middle in the row farthest from the blackboard. There's some calming draught there. The flask with the white label on the stopper. Go get it."

He nodded, and then ran out of the room. By then, Harry was dry-heaving. "Are you okay, Harry?" Draco wondered as Hermione helped her housemate back to his feet.

"S-s-somewhat . . . " Harry rasped before he stared with teary eyes at Blaise. "God! Who would hate your mother enough to unleash THAT on her?"

Blaise blinked. "Lady Chikage, could you tell us what this 'curse of Maha' is?" Ophion asked as Erebus returned with a bottle of calming draught.

"Let me show you," she said as she headed back to the shelf, and then she drew out a book. Placing that on the desk, she flipped it open, calling out, "_Translatus English._" As the index page morphed from the strange alien glyphs to English letters, she traced down the index to the right page, and then flipped through the book. "Here we are," she then said. "_Translatus English_," she repeated again before she turned the book to allow Blaise a chance to see what was there. "Someone decided your mother, Blaise, was the equivalent of this person on the _Mundus Magicus_. And thus cursed her to ensure that NO ONE will be able to give her true, everlasting love."

Blaise blinked, and then he scanned down the pages before his jaw dropped. "This woman was a GOLEM?" he exclaimed as he pointed to the picture there.

"_**WHAT?**_" those who did NOT know of the _Mundus Magicus_ cried out.

"The person who created her didn't care."

Eyes locked on Harry. "You know about this, Harry?" Gregory asked.

"Yeah, Greg, I do. Aunt Elaine told me about it." Harry took a breath before he swallowed the rest of the calming draught Erebus obtained. "Maha was the creation of a guy named Nhutlan. About two thousand years ago our time. He was of the Gepard Tribe. He was a swot." On seeing confusion cross the faces of everyone save Chikage and Hermione, Harry smirked. "Sorry. Forgot you didn't know what that means. He was a guy who was really smart, but never got anywhere with the ladies because he didn't know how to treat them right. So instead of teaching himself HOW to be good to them, he CREATED a lady to be his mate." He waved to the picture in Chikage's book. "Maha."

"So what happened?" Hermione demanded.

"He created her TOO good."

Eyes locked on Chikage. "'Too good?'" Blaise asked.

"When people saw her, even those of other Tribes - on the _Mundus Magicus_, it was seen back then as rather grotesque to cross-breed between members of different Tribes; even these days, it's often seen as odd even if it CAN be done - who had an eye for the female form found Maha irresistible," Chikage explained. "It came to the point where the chieftain of the Gepards personally had the poor woman kidnapped to make her a consort. And when he possessed her, others of his personal council all took notice and THEY got interested in having her. Eventually, it got to the point where various elders began to fight a civil war over who would 'win' Maha." She tsked as the jaws of everyone else in the room dropped in disbelief. "Pity for all of them that Nhutlan was quite the spell caster and suspected right from the start that there would be those who would 'steal' her. He therefore had her body enchanted with a curse that would unleash diseases - always of a type that would seen as normal to the victims - so that even if the ones who did get a chance to be with her 'won' her . . . "

"They condemned themselves to die," Blaise finished.

"Exactly. What was worse, Nhutlan himself was killed by relatives of the Gepard chieftain before they could learn how to undo that curse." A sigh. "Maha died alone and unloved. And since she was an artificial magical construct in the end, her body was broken down into potions ingredients so that her 'curse' could be used by those who wanted to seize a pretty girl for themselves. Unfortunately, though . . . "

"No one knew how to remove the curse when it was unleashed."

Eyes locked on Harry. "What a ghastly thing to do!" Ophion breathed out.

"You speak the truth," Erebus said, a grimace on his face.

"The cure was eventually discovered some centuries later," Chikage then said as she took the book and flipped through the pages. "Grandfather brought the knowledge of how to cure the victim directly to Britain after his trip to Ariadne. Hence, Blaise's mother will be safe from now on. However, to save Blaise's stepfather, we need to find who cast that curse on his mother and have him or her dealt with immediately."

"Is this guy still alive?" Draco then asked.

"We shall see. Harry?"

He perked. "Yeah?"

"Write a letter. Get Lucy to deliver it to your sister and Elaine Buckshire," she told him. "Give them all the details and make sure they liaise with Jane's father and Aesup's uncle to get all the relevant information. This curse's use on Blaise's mother is a direct violation of the Treaty of Two Worlds. As Her Majesty's Gatemaster of the Garden of the Galaxy - even if she's considered the presumptive Gatemaster - it's Rose's ultimate responsibility to ensure any curse that originated from the _Mundus Magicus_ and unleashed here is tracked down and stopped immediately."

Harry nodded before he ran out of the room, Hermione right behind him. Blaise watched them go, and then he turned to Chikage. "What will happen?"

"It depends on who was involved," the traveller breathed out . . .

* * *

The headmaster's office, after supper . . .

"Come in, Elaine! How are you?"

"Not as well as I would feel knowing that someone unleashed THAT on some poor woman here," Elaine Buckshire stated after emerging from the fireplace to take Albus' hand in her own. She then turned as someone else then emerged, dressed in very beautiful robes made of what appeared to be a type of dragonhide. "Ah! Headmaster Dumbledore, may I present the Chief Magistrate of Ariadne, Lord Kamashe Iwana of the Leguan. The Chief Magistrate is an expert on the Curse of Maha."

Albus immediately bowed; he knew through past interactions with Elaine and others of the _Mundus Magicus_ he met at Beckery Hill that the lizard-like Leguan looked on physical contact outside intimacy with considerable distaste. "A pleasure to meet you, sir. Welcome to Hogwarts," he then greeted the visitor from another world.

A slight nod from Kamashe as he then hissed out something. Harry, who was there (along with Chikage and Blaise), perked, and then turned to gaze on the headmaster. "He apologises for not replying to you in your language, Grandpapa," he said before turning to hiss something to the visitor from Ariadne. After getting a response - and ignoring Blaise's dropped jaw as he gaped in wide-eyed disbelief at his schoolmate - Harry then added, "Since anything concerning the Curse is seen as ultimate priority, he came here right away without getting the proper translation charms set up."

"If the Chief Magistrate wishes, I can help," Chikage then offered.

Harry looked at her, and then hissed something to the visiting Leguan. The latter's slit gold eyes immediately shifted to Chikage for a moment before he nodded. She then drew out a meson crystal on a band and whispered, "_Translatus Sentiens Magicus: Leguan Mundus Magicus._" As the crystal began to glow, she offered it to him with both hands. "I believe things will be much better now."

Kamashe nodded as he took the band, and then slipped it around his neck as Elaine moved to clasp it between two of the pointed bony ridges that ran down the centreline of his spine from the bridge of his non-existent nose and over the top of his semi-humanoid skull. "Is this much better, Lord Schoolmaster?" he then said in a low voice, the echo of a hiss in the background though his words were clear English.

"It is indeed, Chief Magistrate," Albus stated.

"Harry! You're a parseltongue?"

That was Blaise. "No thanks to the Dark Dunderhead," Harry noted as he rolled his eyes. As Blaise nodded in understanding, he added, "I learned a while ago that Terran parseltongue could be understood by the Leguans and I can understand their language, so I made sure I was here when he came so I could help with translation."

"Even though we warned you NOT to reveal that skill, Harry," Albus chided.

Harry's cheeks reddened. "Why must his gift be hidden?" Kamashe asked.

"Because of their latest dark lord, Chief Magistrate," Elaine explained. "He was also capable of parseltongue and often cursed his victims using it."

The lizard-like being gazed at her, and then he grunted. "Ah! The bastard dodo hatchling who thinks himself the heir of one of the Great Schoolmasters who found this institution, you mean?" As the Cornu would-be schoolteacher nodded in return, he breathed out through his slit nostrils. "Take me to the victims."

"This way, please," Albus bade.

The small group of people walked out of the room and made their way to the stairs to get to the Middle Bridge so they could head into the dormitory wing and make their way to the Hospital Wing, where Blaise's mother and stepfather had been brought in by Hogan Roper not an hour before. As they progressed, everyone ignored the dropped jaws and gaping looks on the faces of staff and students alike as they gazed on the two therianthropes currently accompanying the headmaster, the Boy-Who-Lived, the Young Traveller and one of their friends. A small crowd of mixed years - including several prefects - eventually began to gather behind the adults and their companions as they arrived climbed up to the sixth floor and marched smartly into Poppy Pomfrey's domain.

"Good evening, Professor . . . OH, MY!" Poppy then exclaimed as her eyes locked on Elaine's head-mounted ram horns and the vaguely reptilian-like head of the quite ornately dressed man beside her. She then blinked as they passed her, making their way to the only occupied bed in the room as Albus paused to whisper something to Poppy which made the matron calm down. By then, Blaise was sharing a hug with Vanessa as Chikage and Harry got chairs for Kamashe and Elaine to make themselves comfortable.

"You are the Earl Stefan Martin of Droitwitch?" Elaine asked.

Stefan, a man in his mid-forties looking like a more healthy and better-dressed Arthur Weasley (minus the glasses Ron's father often wore), nodded as his eyes darted all over the still somewhat-human Elaine before they fixed on the snake-like being that was with her. "Don't worry about the Chief Constable, Uncle Stefan," Harry then assured him, which made Blaise's stepfather look his way. "He's an expert on the curse that was put on Aunt Vanessa that hurt you, so he came here to get rid of it."

"He is?" Vanessa, a very beautiful woman with Blaise's dark skin, black hair and deep brown eyes, then asked as she turned to gaze on the Leguan.

"There have been several times in recent memory when people have been struck by the Curse of Maha, Regent Lady Zabini," Elaine stated as she gazed at the other woman. "Fortunately, we were able to catch the perpetrators before anyone died thanks to the Chief Constable here." She stared at Harry. "How did you determine it was this?"

"Thank Chikage's grandfather and one of Aesup's uncles," Harry replied. "Uncle Shigyŏng is an expert in traditional Korean medicine and a fully-certified healer. He spotted all the odd things wrong with Uncle Stefan's _ki_ pattern and drew a diagram that matched what Grand-uncle Ryūji saw on his trip to Ariadne back in '36."

"Yes, there was a victim of Maha's Curse that had been discovered back then. I did not realise the Traveller was able to notice such things," Kamashe noted.

Jaws dropped. "You and Ryūji actually met once when he and Glaston visited your city back then?" Albus asked as he and Poppy came over to join them.

"We did. Bright hatchlings, both of them." Kamashe seemed to look amused as people stared in confusion at him, and then he tranquilly gazed on Vanessa. "By the count of years on my world, young lady, I am 429 years of age."

"In Earth years, he's 643 years old," Chikage immediately supplied. "That makes him a contemporary of Master Alchemist Flamel and his wife."

"Oh, my . . .!" Poppy breathed out. "Is that normal for his kind?"

"Quite normal, Poppy," Albus supplied. "The Leguan are the oldest-lived of all the Tribes on the _Mundus Magicus_. Lifespans of five hundred years - in their years, not ours - are quite common there." He tensed on sensing something burst out from Stefan's chest, echoed by a yelp of shock from him. "Oh, my heavens! What . . .?"

"The curse is removed," Kamashe then said. "And I can sense the one who cast it is still alive. I put the tracer on him to have one of the Queen's Magistrates here track him down using the Traveller's Gift." He then focused on Vanessa. "Now you have a decision to make, Lady Zabini: How do you wish the miscreant punished?"

Vanessa and Blaise blinked before they gazed on each other . . .

* * *

Beckery Hill, Saturday 2 November, early morning . . .

"Melvin Kneen . . .?"

"A former classmate of yours, Aunt Vanessa?"

A gobsmacked Vanessa Zabini blinked on hearing that question, and then she nodded before taking the offered teacup from Bessie Bunter. "Yes, he was, Rose. Rather pathetic little man. Scared me, every time he looked at me . . . "

Rose stared at her, and then she looked over her shoulder. "Tamara?"

_Pop!_ "Yes, Mistress?" Tamara Simmonds asked as she gazed on Rose.

"I want everything we have on Melvin Kneen."

A nod. "Right away, Mistress." _Pop!_

Watching Rose, Albus tried not to allow a frown twisting his lips from becoming too noticeable. With the magical "tag" created by Kamashe Iwana from the remnants of the curse that had been unleashed through Vanessa Zabini on Stefan Martin, it had been child's play to use the _Kokujun_ to trace down the man who had been responsible for depriving Blaise Zabini of not just his father, but five stepfathers and nearly a sixth hadn't Harry Potter's expressed concern about his classmate's problem prompted Hogan Roper into immediate action. And while it WAS a very good thing that the person who had used such a vile curse was about to finally face the bar of justice, that a nine year-old was ultimately leading the charge . . . even if she WAS magically seen as the Magical Sheriff who had the responsibility to deal with a matter like this . . .!

«_They have to grow up sooner or later, Albus._»

He jolted on feeling that soft voice in his head, and then he looked over to see Lilian Evans gazing at him; she was standing by the window of the living room of the Reevetor Somerset, which is where Rose normally did her administrative work. Standing, he walked over to join her, whispering a charm to erect a shield to grant them some privacy. "She is but a child, Lilian. As you are her mother in all respects . . . "

A sigh. "I know," Lilian mused. "I feel it at times, too. I look at her at times and all I see is the little girl that is my child in all but name and genetics. But as she began to mature, signs began to flash showing how much Sir Glaston came to influence her very life. Eventually, we couldn't deny it when she started to express interesting in doing field work." She glanced at Napaeae Runcorn, who was standing off to one side, paying attention as her charge continued to work in getting things set up for when they moved in on Melvin Kneen. "Even Napaeae had her doubts at first. But . . . " A shrug. "It's like there's a switch in Rose's head, Albus. One she can turn on and off when needed. Switch it off, she's your normal nine year-old girl. Switch it on, she becomes the stuff of nightmares for Dark wizards and witches . . . "

_Pop!_ "Mistress, Master Kneen's file."

Albus and Lilian watched as Rose took the file - it was a normal cardboard paper file, the headmaster noticed - from Tamara and then she opened it to glance through what was there. A moment later, an icy smile crossed the young sheriff's face. "_Goody_ . . .!" she hissed before gazing at Vanessa. "The mutt's got a Dark Mark."

Albus gaped. "He was one of Tom's supporters?"

"He was never tried!" Remus Lupin stated.

"Most likely, he was one of the backup people, never to act unless it was seen as necessary. Probably put himself to ground after Mom made sure the Dark Dunderbrain lost his body, Uncle Moony," Rose said as she gazed through the observation notes, and then she smiled. "Even better, he currently resides in the magical enclave in Bath!"

"That makes it your jurisdiction physically as well as legally," Nancy Snagge mused as she shared a delighted smile with Remus.

"Yep," Rose said as she drew her wand, and then called out, "_Gunjun, Shijun Bath: Transporto Porto Evanesco! Transporto Totus Homo Magicus Protego!_"

Everyone felt a slight jolt of power warp through the tower. "What does that do?" Blaise, who was sitting beside his mother and stepfather, then asked.

"_Gunjun_ means 'Shield of the County,'" Chikage - she was present with Harry (both had been allowed to come down at Vanessa's request so that Blaise would have friends his age close by) - then explained. "It is the primary operating level of the _Kokujun_ by people such as Rose. _Shijun_ means 'Shield of the City.' This allows Rose to single out the city of Bath for local use of the _Kokujun_. _Transporto Porto Evanesco_ shuts down the Floo network. _Transporto Totus Homo Magicus Protego_ erects a shield around Bath that blocks out all other forms of human magical transportation from inside or outside a particular area. Such as brooms, apparation or portkeys."

Blaise blinked, and then he gazed on Tamara. "But not house elves, right?"

"Exactly," Rose mused. "Tamara?"

Tamara perked. "Mistress?"

"Scout the area. Tell me who's there."

A nod. "Right away, Mistress." _Pop!_

"What if he has house elves of his own?" Vanessa then asked.

A shake of the head after a quick glance of the observation notes. "No house elves were registered as being owned by him, Aunt Vanessa," Rose reported as she gazed on Blaise's mother. "Per the House Elf Registry Act of 1811 - for those outside the Ministry's purview, per Annex B of the Magical Royal Proclamation of the Noble Tribes - all wizards and witches have no choice but to register all house elves under their charge with the Ministry or the local Magistrate Magical. Failure to do so can be detected by Gringotts right away and reported. Per the Treaty of 1779 between the Ministry and Gringotts - supplemented by the Agreement of 1779 between the Crown and the Goblin Nation of Britain - the goblins are obliged to report all known members of a magical household on demand to the D.M.L.E. on the Ministry's side or one of the Magistrates Magical on our side." She smirked. "Uncle Erlking really LOVES sending inspectors out to make sure THAT particular part of the Treaty is enforced."

"I bet he does," Vanessa said, smirking in return; she had ALWAYS liked Erlking.

_Pop!_ "Mistress?"

"Yes?" Rose said as she looked at Tamara.

"There are ten in the suspect's household," Tamara said. "Four human magicals, one male and three female. Six normals, all female. No other magical beings."

Rose hummed. "Weird."

"Rose."

She looked at Chikage. "What?"

"Use the Scrying Room. The spell to bring out the identities of all the people inside the target zone is _Gunjun, Shijun Bath, Kejun Kneen: Identificare Totus._"

Rose blinked, and then she nodded as she headed off downstairs. Albus watched her go, and then he looked over to see a stunned look on Napaeae's face. "Don't tell me that's something you've forgotten about Ryūji's system, Napaeae."

A shrug. "Actually, Albus, I've never really done something like that with the _Kokujun_ before," Napaeae then admitted. "Then again, I never really have much in the way of problems in my part of the country. The thing with Helena Gibbon back in 1986 was the only problem I ever had in Cheshire ever since I assumed the post . . . "

"_**HARRY!**_"

Harry was out of his chair and running downstairs almost as soon as the echo of Rose's shout finished bouncing off the walls of the Reevetor. A whole crowd then raced down after him to the second floor, running into the Scrying Room to see Rose standing there, a dumbfounded look on her face as she looked on one of the images now being projected by the runes in the room. "What is it, Rose . . .?" Harry began before his eyes locked in on one of the images shown there before his jaw dropped.

"Simone . . . "

* * *

Bath, an hour later . . .

The small magical enclave located in the famous spa town was just north of High Common, outside the urban part of the town in an area that was seen by most normals as a simple grove off the end of Fonthill Road. Currently, a small crowd of people were crouched behind a Notice-me-Not charm to the south of one of the buildings located there. Atop Rose and the whole magical constabulary of Beckery Hill - as the small enclave of wizards that lived in Bath were directly governed by the Ministry of Magic, there was no local constabulary here answerable to the Magical Sheriff of Somerset - there was Napaeae, Albus, Harry, Chikage, all of the Potter siblings' elves and the Zabinis, including Stefan Martin. As Rose was staring at the house nearby, Blaise leaned over to Harry. "So who's this Simone anyway?" he whispered. "Friend of yours?"

"My oldest friend outside Achelois and Jane. We went to primary school together," Harry replied, a shudder running through him as he recalled the pained, hurt image of Simone Hawkhurst from the scrying room. "Haven't talked to her since after summer began and we graduated. I thought she was still going . . .!"

He sniffed back tears. "Didn't you notice?" Vanessa asked Rose.

A tired sigh as Rose gave the older woman a weary look. "Aunt Vanessa, I may be the Magical Sheriff here, but I can't keep track of EVERYONE! Simone was Harry's friend, not mine!" she hissed back before she tensed. "Oh, great . . .!"

The sounds of people apparating in echoed from nearby. "Hold it right there!"

Rose waved her wand. "_Silencio!_" she snarled.

Everyone looked to see a small group of Aurors all standing there, looking quite comical as their mouths flapped up and down without any noise coming from their lips. As Harry and Blaise fought back the urge to laugh, Napaeae sighed as she silently moved over to join them. "Honestly!" she snarled at John Dawlish, keeping her voice down. "Don't you idiots have something BETTER to do than to SHOUT out to everyone . . .?"

"Who's there?"

Eyes locked on the house, where the back door was now open, revealing a man about the same age as Vanessa Zabini, dressed in tattered robes as he scanned around the forest surrounding his home, wand at the ready. "Oh, bugger!" Waving at the aurors with her wand, she hissed out, "_Finite!_" A deep breath. "Okay, we'll do it THIS way." Rose aimed her wand. "_**GUNJUN, SHIJUN BATH: MORSMORDRE CRUCIO!**_"

The man in question jolted on hearing that shout before a pained shriek escaped him as he dropped his wand, collapsed to his knees and grabbed his left arm. The aurors - who had just apparated in after walking through the magical barrier now blocking off Bath from the rest of the United Kingdom - stared in shock on seeing the Girl-Who-Lived unleash what seemed to be an Unforgivable at the wizard whose property they were on. Rose got up and walked over to stand beside the howling Melvin. As he rolled on the ground, his screams echoing through the air, doors in neighbouring homes opened as other people peeked outside to see what was going on. Instantly, they were set upon by Nancy, Remus and their friends to keep them back and calm as Rose's elves popped over, with Lilian carrying Napaeae, to stand close to their mistress while she calmly walked inside the Kneen home to begin to look around inside, Napaeae following.

"Um . . . Professor . . .?" John weakly asked.

Albus sighed. "Be assured, John, there is quite the explanation about this." With that, he drew his wand and walked away from the bush.

By then, Vanessa, Blaise, Stefan, Harry and Chikage had come up to stand beside the howling Melvin. "That's pathetic!" Harry said before whispering, "_Silencio!_"

The poor man continued to scream, though no noise escaped from him. By then, the aurors had come up to join them. "Um . . . where's the curse coming from?" Elaine Savage then asked as she cast a diagnostic charm over the badly-shaking man. "He's being hit with a _Crucio_, but I can't tell where the energy's coming from."

"Hey!" Wayne Proudfoot exclaimed. "Look on his arm!"

The others looked. "Merlin! He's a Death Eater?" John exclaimed.

"I'm afraid so, John," Albus stated. "He was one of Tom's followers we never knew of. And probably would never have learned of hadn't Harry wondered about what was happening to Vanessa's husbands - including young Blaise's late father - and asked both Hogan Roper and Healer Shigyŏng Pak to properly investigate the matter."

The aurors blinked before Elaine looked at Blaise's mother, her face pale with shock. "Oh, Merlin! It WAS a curse? How on Earth was that possible, Ness?"

"We're investigating that now, Laney," Vanessa replied; the two had been a year apart in Hogwarts in Slytherin. She then looked at the open doorway of the Kneen house. "Rose! Could you please be so kind as to put a stop to this?"

Rose leaned out the doorway. "Why?"

"I believe Wilma would prefer it if Mister Kneen was sane and sensate enough to face trial at Gonebren, Rose," Albus called out.

The young sheriff blinked, and then she blushed. "Whoops! Sorry!" She then waved her wand at Melvin, who was now frothing at the lips, his body shaking like a leaf in a wind. "_Finite! Stupefy!_" she called out before ducking back inside.

Melvin jolted, and then he passed out. "Wow . . .!" Wayne breathed out.

"Um, Professor," John warned. "We've got a problem."

"And what is that, John?" Albus asked.

"Well, Miss Potter just . . .!"

"Used the Cruciatus Curse on Mister Kneen's Dark Mark."

Silence.

"WHAT?" all the aurors gasped as they stared at Chikage.

"It's true," the traveller noted. "The incantation, you will hopefully recall, was _Morsmordre Crucio_, not _Crucio_ all by itself. Putting _Morsmordre_ - or any other adjective - before the spell name specifies a specific target you wish the spell to affect. Specifically, Mister Kneen's Dark Mark." She then shrugged as she gazed pitilessly at the unmoving Melvin. "It's not Rose's fault that when Tom branded the man with that mark, he ended up tying Mister Kneen's whole LIFE FORCE to it."

Silence fell as the aurors considered that, and then everyone perked on hearing Rose yell out from inside the Kneen home, "Modesty!"

Modesty O'Donnell - who, with the other Potter elves, had been standing by the doorway of the house - leaned inside. "What is it, Mistress?"

"Get Uncle Hamilton here with a full field kit!" Rose ordered. "Tell him that he better bring Florence and all the other house elves at the Hill that are trained as emergency healers, too! We've got nine people here suffering from over-exposure to the Imperius Curse and they're doped up on a faulty version of _Subicio Deicio_!"

Modesty nodded. "Right away, Mistress!" _Pop!_

"What in Merlin's name is that?" Wayne demanded.

"I've heard of it several times, Wayne," Albus stated. "It's a subtle, sublime version of the Imperius in liquid form." He looked to the remaining elves. "Lilian, why don't you go up to Hogwarts and bring Severus here? I'm sure Hamilton would appreciate some assistance from him concerning how to deal with the victims."

Lilian nodded before she popped away. Seeing this, Elaine then sighed. "Okay, everyone! This is a crime scene now! Let's secure it down! Move!"

The other aurors nodded as they sprang into action. By then, a pained moan escaped the man that owned the house Rose Potter and Napaeae Runcorn were now tearing apart. As his eyes fluttered open, then they fixed on the beautiful image leaning over him. "Nessie . . . " Melvin breathed out. "I'd knew you'd come to me at last . . . "

"Mister Kneen, kindly go to sleep, please?" Chikage said as she pointed her index finger at him. "_Osculum Papilionis_," she whispered out.

A bolt of energy slammed into Melvin's head, making it snap back as if it had been smashed by a _ki_ mallet. Seeing that, everyone stared in awed shock at the traveller as she lowered her hand. "Another _ki_ attack?" Albus asked.

"It's one I designed myself," Chikage stated.

"A very effective one. By the way, 'Butterfly Kiss?'"

Chikage smirked as she gestured. A flash of light later, a spirit butterfly fluttered away from the palm of her hand. "I like butterflies."

The headmaster looked quite impressed. "So I see."

As the two headed off to chat on their own, Harry then smirked. "What's so funny?" Blaise then asked as he stared at the other boy.

"There's only one thing I can say about Chikage now."

"Oh? What's that?" Vanessa asked as she and Stefan stared at him.

"She's not boring."

"You better believe that, Harry."

All four turned to see the traveller gazing at them, a cryptic smile on her face. Seeing that, Harry and Blaise blinked, and then they both laughed . . .

* * *

Sometime later . . .

"So Harry would have lost all his magic if he told me his secret, right?"

A sad-looking Simone Hawkhurst was now seated on a rock, along with the five other girls who had been captured over the last three months by Melvin Kneen and held at his home. All of them looked thin and haggard, but - much to Albus' private relief - none had their virtues taken and they had not been badly abused by the man. Such could not be said for Melvin's wife Jenna, much less their twin daughters, Nessie and Julia. All three of them were in Beckery Hill, being administered by Hamilton St. John's elf nurse, Florence Verney, as they began the recovery of regaining control of themselves from months - possibly YEARS! - of being subjected to Melvin's control.

"That is quite correct, Miss Hawkhurst," Albus then said. "When he swore his oath making him directly loyal to the Queen just before he began attending primary school with you in Glastonbury, Harry, in effect, agreed to adhere to all of the tenets of the Separation Act of 1692, which is the legislation which separated the magical world from the normal world. Paragraphs of that Act forbid non-blood or non-marriage related relatives of wizards and witches from learning of the magical world."

"So what happens to us now?" another of the girls, a pretty teenager from Yeovil named Ellen Datlow, then wondered. "Those coppers that came with you were muttering something about getting an 'obliviation team' over here to deal with us."

"What the bloody heck does 'muggle' mean?" another girl, a senior high school student who currently lived in Bridgwater named Margaret Haddix, then asked.

"'Muggle' is the local wizarding term for non-magicals," Chikage declared as she came up to join them. "And 'obliviation' is their term for memory-altering, which is normally done to guarantee the separation of the normal and magical worlds." She then stared at Albus, an amused smile on her face. "Although, given that Rose IS the officer-in-charge of this case, I doubt they'll be facing something so drastic."

He hummed. Deep down, Albus knew that the six women before him could be trusted with the secret of the wizarding world; his instincts told them right away that Simone and her companions were very accepting people all around. Given Simone's long and deep friendship with Harry and Rose, that would certainly prompt her to keep quiet. The others, having shared such an awful experience with Simone, would most likely follow suit; the emotional bond that had formed between them over the last while would guarantee that. Atop that, as a precaution, Hamilton St. John had submitted all six to the Neuwied Test. While all had scored in the acceptable range for normals, they were on the high side for normals, almost to the point where they could be seen as being squibs. If they married right in the future, there was a guaranteed certainty that any children born from them would wind up magical. And that was a very good thing.

But still, there was the law . . .

"What is to stop the Ministry from acting behind Rose's back?"

Chikage didn't look the least bit bothered by Albus' question. "May I remind you that MI5 is fully aware of your society, Professor."

Albus blinked. "What is that?"

"The Security Service, Professor Dumbledore," the oldest of Melvin Kneen's former prisoners - a first-year engineering undergraduate who had begun attending the University of Bristol in September named Laurell Hamilton - explained. "They're the special version of the police that deal with spies and terrorists inside the country."

"They would be the equivalent to the Interior Operations Team of the Department of Mysteries," Chikage added as Albus gazed in curiosity at her.

The elderly professor then nodded. "Ah! I understand!" He then perked on hearing people come up from nearby Fonthill Road. "Who . . .?"

"Professor Dumbledore, I presume?"

Albus blinked. "Yes?"

The leader of the group of six smartly-dressed men and women - on seeing them, Chikage desperately tried to hide a shocked smirk on noting their black suits and Ray-Ban sunglasses, which reminded her a little TOO much of the "Men In Black" in her own dimension - came up, offering his hand. "Howard Hanley, Professor Dumbledore. You were my parents' transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts back in the early 1950s. It's a pleasure to make you acquaintance at last, sir. I trust all's well here."

Albus blinked. "Hanley . . .?" He then grinned as he shook the offered hand. "Oh, yes! Your father was a Ravenclaw. Stuart Hanley; he graduated back in 1955 if memory serves!" The headmaster also recalled that the elder Hanley had joined up with the Death Eaters; he had been one of the ones who had died at Romney Marsh in 1979. He then perked as he gave the visiting MI5 agent a curious look. "Are you . . .?"

"'Non-magical pureblood,' as Her Majesty's Magical Magistrates address those such as I," Howard said with a self-depreciating smile. "As you would say . . . "

"I would actually say it that way, Howard. 'Squib' is as derogatory a term for those such as you as 'muggle' is for Miss Hawkhurst and her friends."

The woman standing beside Howard then smirked. "Damn, Howie! I thought my sister was pulling my leg when she told me how open this man is!"

"He is that," Howard said with a laugh. "Oh, Professor, may I present Jennifer Laughland. She just joined the Security Service's Section W; that's the part of our group formed to work on the normal side of the secrecy divide with people such as Dame Potter and Dame Runcorn. Her sister Leanna is a second year in Hufflepuff now."

Albus perked. "Delighted to meet you, Miss Laughland!"

He courtly kissed her hand, which made her blush. "One of the many good things about people such as the Professor," Jennifer then mused.

"WAIT! ROSE IS A KNIGHT?"

Eyes locked on a gobsmacked Simone Hawkhurst. "Technically, she is the Dame Rose Jamie Potter, Dame Bacheloress - the exact female equal of a Knight Bachelor - of the Realm, Her Majesty's Magistrate Magical of the Ceremonial County of Somerset," Howard said as he walked over to kneel before Simone and her friends. "In the meantime, ladies, my team and I will be conducting interviews with each of you so that - while respecting the desires of Her Majesty's magical subjects to maintain the veil of secrecy over their society and lives - will allow you all to get back to your lives as quickly and as painlessly as possible. To that end, as soon as Dame Potter finally certifies you're free to be released to our jurisdiction, we'll get you to someplace safe so you can rest up and relax before we reunite you with your loved ones."

The girls all nodded in understanding. "I take it Rose has done this before," Simone then mused as her mind wrapped around the very idea of her former classmate's kid sister actually COMMANDING such incredible authority in this part of the country.

Howard smirked. "Truthfully, this is her first time."

Simone gaped. "Right . . . "

Albus laughed as Chikage suppressed a grin . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	18. The Maze Among the Rocks

Beckery Hill, later that day . . .

"So how bad was it really, Severus?"

Severus shuddered before nodding thanks as Bessie Bunter handed him a cup of tea. Everyone was now relaxing in the living room of the Reevetor. "In all my years in dealing with potions, Albus, I have NEVER seen such a bungled-up attempt at making something as complex as _Subicio Deicio_! It's a miracle to me that Melvin's wife and children, to say anything of Miss Hawkhurst and her friends, are still alive and functional! By all rights, they should be dead if not rendered totally insensate like Frank and Alice were by the Lestranges!" A sigh. "Hamilton has Melvin's wife and daughters on a calming and flushing draught regime that should have them restored to normal in a month. Fortunately, his daughters' magic wasn't affected to the point where they would be refused attendance at Hogwarts. We should see them next year."

"Ah, splendid!" Albus said with a delighted nod before he gazed on Rose, who was busy tapping things on a magically-hardened laptop computer that Remus Lupin had got her for her ninth birthday. "And what are you writing there, Rose?"

"The mutt's rap sheet," Rose said. "As I'm the arresting officer and Aunt Vanessa will demand he be tried before the Privy Council, I have to make sure all the charges stick or Grant-aunt Wilma's going to throw them out of the Circle."

Severus perked. "'Mutt?' Where did you get that term from, Rose?"

"Partially from Sirius Black and his animagus power," Rose said with a scowl. As many of the people seated around the living room table nodded, she added, "Partially from a friend of mine from across the pond, Thomas Gerard. He's a Magical Federal Marshal serving the American Department of Justice; he's assigned to the western part of New York State as part of the Second Magical Judicial District. They're our equivalents in the United States. He was trained by the normal U.S. Marshals at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centre in Georgia after he graduated from Seven Hills." The Seven Hills Wizards Academy - located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia close to Lynchburg - was the male-only equivalent of the Salem Witches Institute in the city of the same name in Massachusetts. "We communicate from time to time on what goes on in each other's patrol area. People like them, folks in the 'W' Division of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Irish Magical Sheriffs and other forces directly answerable to national heads-of-state all look on me as . . . "

"As what?" Blaise demanded.

"Unique."

Harry laughed as Chikage smirked. "Rose, don't let that get to your head," Severus warned. "Harry is doing quite a lot to keep the peace at Hogwarts now. He doesn't need all his good work undone when you come to school in two years."

Vanessa perked. "She still has to go to school?"

"The main qualification of someone like myself is to pass OWL year at Hogwarts or a similar school with anything above an E grade, Ness," Napaeae noted before she cleared her throat. "Okay, Rose. What's the final verdict on Mister Kneen?"

A sigh. "Six counts of murder. One count of attempted murder. Two counts of psychological torture. Six counts of premeditation to commit murder. Line-theft. Nine counts of use of a curse outlawed under the Forbidden Curses Act of 1948: the Imperius. One count of use of a curse outlawed under the Forbidden Curses Act of 1948: the Curse of Maha. Nine counts of use of a forbidden potion outlawed under the Forbidden and Restricted Potions Act of 1948: the _Subicio Deicio_ potion. Violation of the Private Spells and Potions Research Act of 1859 in an attempt to create a potion designed to kill normals, which then leads to a clear violation of the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1948 concerning the use of magical weapons of mass destruction against a specific group of people." Everyone in the room shuddered on hearing Rose mention that charge. "Six counts of kidnapping with threat to do bodily harm. Six counts of disobedience of Section III of the Separation Act of 1692: the Statue of Secrecy regulations, of course. Nine counts of non-judicial restraint of nine of Her Majesty's subjects. Membership in an organization outlawed under the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1972: the Death Eaters." Rose then sighed as she sipped her tea before she sat back in her chair. "Which then opens a whole new can of worms," she added.

"What's that?" Blaise asked.

"If he was involved in activities that led to either the murder or any grievous harm against any of Her Majesty's subjects, he is then condemned as a Traitor to the Realm, Blaise," Rose said as she stared at him. "He can be executed on the spot."

"_Morsmordre Avada Kedavra_," Harry supplied.

Blaise then blanched. "Right . . . "

"Where is he being held now?" Albus asked.

Rose smirked. "Gonebren, Grandpapa. Where else?"

People around her shivered on seeing that icy smile . . .

* * *

London, the Ministry of Magic, Monday 4 November . . .

"Elphias!"

The balding man with the grey hair short-cropped at the temples perked on hearing that familiar voice, and then he turned, smiling. "Oh, hello, Dedalus!" Elphias Doge wheezed, holding out a hand for Dedalus Diggle to take, and then he perked as he fixed his eyes on the man accompanying him. "And who's . . .?" His voice then trailed off as his eyes fixed on the insignia on the man's cloak. "Oh, my heavens!"

Dedalus smiled. "Elphias, this is Hogan Roper! He's one of the ones who got Harry and his family free from James' idiot curse back in '86!" He then gazed on Hogan. "This here's Elphias Doge, Hogie. He was part of our 'club' . . . "

Hogan smiled. "Dedalus, I'm fully aware of who Lord Doge happens to be. Thank you for bringing me here, my friend. I'm sure he and I can make our way downstairs."

"Right you are! I'll see you at the Caldron sometime!"

With that, he parted from Elphias and then headed off. Hogan watched him go, and then gazed on Albus Dumbledore's old yearmate. Elphias - the man did have, in Hogan's eyes, a VERY undeserving reputation as a dimwit, especially when one compared him to Albus personally - had a knowing look on his face. "So what brings you here, Sir Xavier?" he asked as they made their way to the private stairs leading down from the Atrium into the Wizengamot chambers below the Department of Mysteries.

"The Queen's business, Marquess Doge," Hogan replied as they headed downstairs. "We just made an arrest in an interesting case I helped investigate. It concerns the tragic passing away of three of your fellow lords in the Wizengamot." He then fixed the older man with a knowing look. "And the near-passing away of a fourth."

Elphias blinked as he stopped. "You mean Vanessa Zabini's . . .?"

"It was a curse."

They gazed on each other, and then the older man nodded. "Let's go."

They made their way to the tenth floor and into the hallway connecting the ten courtrooms located here, which also doubled as meeting chambers for the Wizengamot when they were in deliberations for various legislative duties. Two aurors stood guard before Courtroom Ten, which was the largest chamber down here and served as the overall meeting place of the whole of the Wizengamot; Elphias had been coming here to attend the weekly briefing of the various department heads when Dedalus intercepted him. Both aurors - looking fresh out of training, Hogan's experienced eye was quick to denote - perked on seeing the two men approach, and then they bowed. "Lord Doge," one of them greeted Elphias as both bowed to him, and then they gazed on Hogan. "Er . . .?"

"This is Sir Xavier Roper, Her Majesty's Magistrate Magical for London," Elphias declared. "He is here on the business of the Queen."

Hearing that, both aurors perked, and then moved to open the doors, bowing respectfully to them. No doubt, Hogan was quick to realise, both of them were normal-borns or half-bloods that had spent time in the normal world; purebloods or magically-raised half-bloods simply didn't really react that way when one mentioned the Queen. That would have to change. "Please go in," the auror who had spoken up said. "The meeting is to begin soon."

"Thank you."

They walked into the chamber. Courtroom Ten was now hosting the fifty-two active members of the Wizengamot, as well as a double-handful of Ministry department heads. Everyone was seated in the standard arrangement their positions demanded in this forum. The floor-level seats were reserved for what were known as the _Seven and Ten_ - the nickname for the heads of the seven Noble and Most Ancient Magical Houses (the magical marquisates) and the ten Noble and Ancient Magical Houses (the magical earldoms) as a group - of which there were only nine currently active members. The second- and third-level seats were for the heads of the Most Noble Magical Houses (the viscountcies) and the Noble Magical Houses (the baronies), of which there were forty-three members. Ministry personnel, save for the senior of them (who would take their positions at the head of the room), were seated to either flank of the lower house leaders. All were here today, including four people that - in other circumstances - Hogan would kill without hesitation: Lucius Malfoy, the senior Vincent Crabbe, Lance Goyle and Mason Nott. A glance around the room also revealed other would be targets: Amycus and Alecto Carrow as well as Walden Macnair. Hogan knew neither of the Carrow siblings could take their family seat - the Magical Sheriff of London had learned this from Erlking years ago - due to their late parents rejecting them in favour of either of Amycus' twin daughters, Hestia and Flora (both of whom, much to Hogan's surprise, were here today). Walden, while he was the Ministry's official Executioner when it came to the disposal of "dangerous creatures," was not senior enough to earn the right to speak of anything concerning his duties unless allowed to do so by Cornelius Fudge.

"Why, Hogan Roper! What are you doing here?"

Hogan relaxed as he took Cornelius' hand. "Minister Fudge. A good morning to you, sir. Her Majesty's business brings me here today, I'm afraid. There is a message all of you need to hear about something we've just discovered over the weekend."

Nearby, Delores Umbridge tensed. "What about?"

"Delores! That's enough!" Cornelius said as he glared at her. "It's a very rare thing for a personal emissary of the Crown to visit us here while the Wizengamot is sitting." As his senior undersecretary tried not to look repulsed, the minister then gazed at Albus. "Albus, when we begin, we'll allow Hogan to speak first."

Albus' eyes twinkled with noticeable mirth. "Certainly, Cornelius." He then raised his voice, gazing upon the others in the room, as he added, "Actually, since we're all here now, let's take our seats and begin this week's meeting."

People quickly quieted down as they sat and relaxed, Hogan walking over to take his seat at the first row on the far left, right beside Malcolm Parkinson and Cyrus Greengrass, who both smiled at him as he relaxed himself. Seeing that, Delores then frowned. "Albus, that man has no right to sit among the Most Noble . . .!"

"Delores, had he NOT taken his Oath to the Crown as one of the Magistrates Magical, he WOULD be sitting there as Lord Roper of Bellacourt," he cut her off.

The senior undersecretary jolted on hearing the headmaster's words, and then she meekly made her way to her post to Cornelius' left, with Amelia Bones at his right. Suppressing the urge to grin, Albus then took the podium as he gazed on the others in the room. "My lords and ladies of the House of Lords Wizengamot, I call this, the forty-sixth weekly meeting of this legislative year, to order. Before we begin with the normal business, I recognise the presence of Her Majesty's Magistrate Magical of the Loyal County of London, Sir Xavier Hogan Roper of the Noble and Ancient Magical House of Roper of Bellacourt, in these chambers today. He bears a message from Her Majesty the Queen. For the next ten minutes, I give the floor to him. Objections?" Seeing everyone else in the room shake their heads, he smiled. "Sir Xavier?"

Polite applause echoed from the others in the room as Hogan stood and bowed to everyone else before walking up to take Albus' hand as the latter pulled away from the podium. Once the applause stopped, Hogan took a deep breath. "Minister Fudge, Chief Warlock Dumbledore, members of Her Majesty's Ministry of Magic and the Right Honourable the Lords Magical of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Wizengamot assembled, I humbly bear greetings from Her Majesty the Queen and bear a message of profound interest to all in this chamber from her this day."

He gazed on the front row of seats. "As the Right Honourable Baron Dumbledore just stated to the Senior Undersecretary Regent Lady Umbridge just before we began, my family does have the right to sit amongst the august persons in this chamber this day. Sadly, many philosophical differences have forced my family over the generations to keep our seat in recess. I won't bore you all with the reasons why since that is not my purpose this day." A sigh. "I am here to inform you all of the discovery of crimes most foul which have been done unto Her Majesty's subjects over the last several years by a just-discovered supporter of the arch-traitor Thomas Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort." Hogan smirked on seeing jolts and looks of fright cross the faces of many in the chamber - he was quick to see neither of the Carrow twins reacting that way, nor did Raven Malfoy, who was standing behind Lucius - before he added, "Please people! It's part of a made-up, anagramised name Riddle came up with back in the 1940s when he was a student at Hogwarts. Besides . . . " - An icy smirk then crossed his face - " . . . were he somehow to come back, he would be immediately targeted and executed, as would anyone who flocked to his banner this time." As people stared in shock at the man - his eye was quick to see the wary and surprised looks on the faces of the Death Eaters present - Hogan then smirked. "But that is not here nor there.

"I draw your attention, ladies and gentlemen, on the three empty seats to the immediate right of the Regent Lady Longbottom," he then said as he pointed to the seats in question to Augusta Longbottom's right side. "The seats that should be occupied by the heirs to the magical Earldoms of Potts of Romney, Kirk of Clydeford and Vance of Swinford." His face then turned totally neutral. "Sadly, we know they are not with us and their only magical heir - who is, thanks to their short and tragic marriages to the Regent Lady Zabini, ALSO the heir of the Magical Barony of Zabini of Lewisham - too young and not orphaned like my daughter's friend, the Marquess Harold Potter, is so he can take his seat." A pause. "Pardon me. His _seats_.

"We've just discovered why."

Everyone gaped at him save for Albus Dumbledore, Vanessa Zabini, Stefan Martin and Amelia Bones. "Pray tell us, Sir Xavier, what did you learn?" Augusta demanded.

Hogan lightly smiled. "On Saturday morning, Regent Lady Longbottom, the Dame Rose Potter, Her Majesty's Magistrate Magical (Presumptive) of the Loyal County of Somerset - under clauses in the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1692, which grants her equal powers to any auror of the Ministry of Magic in times when the Ministry cannot enforce its laws; also under the competent supervision of the Dame Napaeae Runcorn, Her Majesty's Magistrate Magical of the Loyal County of Cheshire and Acting Magistrate Magical of the Loyal County of Somerset due to the Dame Magistrate Potter's youth - affected the arrest of one Master Martin Joseph Kneen, resident of the magical enclave in the city of Bath, which is within the County of Somerset and thus, under the Dame Magistrate Potter's overall purview. The charges she brought upon him when she discovered what he had been up to over the last few years are now in your hands."

People blinked, and then gaped on seeing sheets of parchment in their laps or hands. As they scanned through them, jaws dropped in horrified shock and disbelief as looks of heartfelt sympathy were then projected towards Vanessa. "My heavens . . .!" Cornelius then spoke for them all. "Was Rose hurt when she went after this man?"

"No, Minister. I'm quite pleased to report that she got the drop on him and managed to subdue him quickly, as six members of Director Bones' department will gladly attest if you ask them." Hogan gave Amelia a knowing look before turning to everyone else. "As Earl Martin, Regent Lady Zabini and the young Baron Zabini have all sworn Loyal Oaths to the Crown, they exercised their rights under Paragraph Six of The Magical Pardon and Oath of Loyalty to the Crown Act of 1703 to see to it Master Kneen will be tried before Her Majesty's Most Honourable Magical Privy Council - in other words, the Magical Magistrates of the Realm assembled - for the crimes listed on those sheets I had my house elf distribute to you all, ladies and gentlemen. The trial will be held at the Circle of Justice at Her Majesty's Prison Gonebren on Friday, the eighth of this month, starting at two o'clock in the afternoon. As the late Earl Potts, Earl Kirk and Earl Vance were all members in very good and honourable standing of this House, you have the right to attend this trial. If you so wish to come, you may; I will take you to Gonebren and bring you back here to this chamber when it's over."

"Who will be presiding over this trial?" Griselda Marchbanks then asked.

"Her Majesty's Witch of the Realm and the senior of Her Majesty's Magistrates Magical, assigned now to the Loyal County of Lincolnshire: Dame Wilma Skegness."

"What? That's ridiculous!"

Eyes locked on Delores Umbridge. "Delores, once the Regent Lady Zabini - and Lord Martin also, I believe - made the choice, it was taken out of our hands," Amelia then warned after glancing at Vanessa and Stefan and getting affirming nods from them both. "If the trial is before the Magical Privy Council, we cannot interfere."

"Besides, it's guaranteed he'll suffer for it."

Eyes locked on Stefan Martin. "Are you sure you want it that way, Stefan?" Tiberius Ogden then asked as he gazed on the other man.

"Damn straight I do, Tiberius!" Stefan snarled as he bolted to his feet. "Have you ever had to hold your wife in your arms as she wept over the deaths of people she dearly loved for reasons she didn't come close to understanding?" he then demanded of everyone else in the room. "Yes, I often feel pretty short considering that I stand now in the place of three very damned good friends of mine, but if I was one of the ones who had died and either Leviticus, Nehemiah or Tobias was still alive and married to Vanessa, I'd hope they'd feel the same way." He then smirked. "Besides . . . "

"Besides what?" Lewis Macmillan then asked.

The smile then turned lethal. "If we sent the bastard to Azkaban, Lewis, the Dementors would just suck out his perverted fantasies about my wife!" Stefan then said. "It won't hurt the man." He nodded to Hogan. "Hogie here guarantees that once the Hollows get their hands on him, Kneen will know true and endless SUFFERING!"

People shuddered as they took that in. Hogan then smiled. "In the meantime, ladies and gentleman, I have my rounds to perform this day. I will no doubt see you all on Friday. Be well, all of you." And with that, he walked out . . .

* * *

The moors of Cornwall, Friday 8 November, after lunch . . .

It was a cold and dreary place.

"Are ye sure it's safe tae be here, Professor Roper?"

Veronica Roper smiled. "As long as you stay within the bounds of the gallery and obey the rules laid out by the Magistrates, you'll be more than fine, Mòrag," she assured the shivering Ravenclaw, and then she perked on hearing footsteps approach. "Dame Magistrate Potter, a good morning to you," she said with a bow.

The students - all of the first years now attending Hogwarts were present, along with a collection of elder students who had volunteered to come out on this trip to Gonebren - turned as Rose approached, dressed formally with her black cape (embossed with the coat-of-arms of her station) draped over her. "And a good morning to you, History Mistress Roper, honoured friends," she said before a smile crossed her face. "And future schoolmates, I hope." As everyone smiled, she waved them down the path towards the half-circle amphitheatre wedged into the side of a drumlin mountain in the near-distance. "This way, please. We'll get you seated before the trial begins."

She turned to lead them off, Harry racing up to allow her arm to wrap around his. "By the way, gentlemen, a word of warning," Chikage - who had dressed herself in a very formal kimono complete with fur collar and was now carrying a candle-lit lantern in her hands - said as she gazed on Fred and George Weasley. "Don't try to prank anyone here. The Hollows don't have anything in the way of senses of humour."

The twins gulped, nodding in understanding. Noting this, Percy could only smile before he gazed on the traveller. "By the way, Miss Hirosaki, I've been meaning to ask you: What's with the lantern and the leaf of offerings you're having Miss Mun carry?"

"A way of appeasing spirits, _Sempai_," Chikage answered. "As a follower of Shintō, I don't celebrate Obon until summer, but since we're walking into a place that is chock-full of spirits of people who died either because they were murdered or were falsely accused of crimes and executed before they could be saved by due process of law, Aesup and I felt it was only right to show we mean them no harm or ill-feelings."

"Like that tower your grandfather built?" Sally-Anne asked as she warmly grasped Libera's hand.

"The very same idea."

"Anyone ever find out how the Hollows came into existence?" Terry Boot asked.

Many people shook their heads. "Did your grandfather?" Pansy asked Chikage.

A smile. "He did."

"Could you tell us?" Cho Chang asked.

Chikage's eyebrow arched. "Qiū, WHY would I do that to you?"

The older student jerked. "You should have seen that coming, Cho," Cedric Diggory said as he gently squeezed the Ravenclaw's hand.

Cho blushed as people close to them laughed. By then, everyone had made their way into the amphitheatre. "How old is this place?" Draco asked as he looked around.

"This was the original meeting place of the Wizengamot back in the days before the Norman Invasion in 1066, Draco," Harry said as people followed Rose's guidance to sit and relax on the third and fourth row of stone seats. "It was kept intact by the Wizards' Council as their court after they moved administrative functions to London in the 1400s, then taken over by the Magistrates Magical after the Separation Act."

"Hey, Harry! Don't steal it all, for God's sake!" Achelois scolded.

Laughter filled the amphitheatre as people took their places. Rose then hopped down onto the main floor. "_Sonorus Amphithetron_," she whispered before calling out, "Can everyone hear me?" As people all nodded, she smiled. "Good! Okay, the rules of this place are VERY simple!" She pointed to the chain of braziers that rang the inside wall of the ground level of the amphitheatre. "See these? Once they're lit, DON'T WALK, STICK OUT YOUR ARMS OR LEAN ANYTHING OF YOUR BODIES PAST THEM!" As people jolted on sensing the emphasis in her words, Rose added, "Once the Hollows are here, we can't guarantee the safety of your SOULS if you do something that dunderheaded!"

People jolted, many instantly turning pale as others morbidly laughed. Almost as soon as the last of the students had taken their seats, footfalls on the pathway leading into the amphitheatre turned everyone's attention to their right just as a smaller group of people came into view, lead by Hogan Roper. Seeing that three of them were dressed in the famous Red Serge review order dress uniforms of Canada's national police force, the jaws of all the students who knew of the Magical Sheriffs dropped in shock and awe. "No way!" Jane hissed as her eyes focused on the oldest of the three members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's "W" Division making their way into the stands, a man who had a crown and two pip stars on his black epaulettes over the **GRC-RCMP** metal shoulder titles. "What the hell is Chief Superintendant Riel doing here?"

"Who's he?" Susan asked as eyes locked on her housemate.

"Chief Superintendant John Riel," Harry provided. "He's the senior magical officer in the RCMP's 'W' Division's Detachment Six; they watch over all of the wizards and witches who live in Manitoba." On seeing the confused looks on many people's faces, he then added, "That's in the middle of Canada, by the way."

"He's one of the most successful dark wizard hunters in the Americas," Marian emphasized. She then indicated the woman beside John as the couple slipped off their hats and took their seats. "The inspector - the lady with just the crown on her shoulders - is his wife, Inspector Monica Riel. Don't know who the corporal is."

"Clearly related. Their daughter, I would say," Chikage mused as she watched the corporal walk in, accompanying a girl that appeared to the traveller's sharp eye to be her own daughter to the front row of seats, allowing her to take her place at one of the chairs there. "And the young lady from Sibley is no doubt their granddaughter," she added in a whisper. "Currently a freshman in Barthe House, I believe."

"'Sibley?'" Kevin Entwhistle asked as people exchanged confused looks.

"The Institute of Science and Magic."

Eyes locked on the young girl as she turned to gaze up on the gathered Hogwarts students. She had spoken English with a clear west-central Canadian accent touched with a lilt that marked some Métis in her background. "So what is someone from the I.S.M. doing here?" Hermione asked as the girl seemed to smile at them.

"Because Her Majesty decided she wanted me to come watch the trial," the girl, who was quite pretty with wavy black hair to mid-neck and stormy grey eyes, then said. "No doubt to entice me to transfer to Hogwarts next year since my father is a graduate of the place. Maybe to move here permanently and take my family's seat in the Wizengamot since he's currently cooling his heels in Azkaban and I'm the only direct-line descendant of his family still alive who could claim his place."

The people close to her were quick to sense the strong hint of a mix of self-loathing and disgust in her voice on hearing her mention her father. "Addie, that's enough," the corporal scolded. "What happened to your father is something you couldn't affect or influence. Stop worrying about it and watch what happens here, alright."

A sigh. "Sure thing, Mom."

The corporal nodded before she flashed Harry a knowing look, and then she headed up to join her parents in the back of the stands. The Hogwarts contingent watched her go, and then exchanged confused looks before turning back to gaze on the girl as the senior members of the Wizengamot took their seats to either side of the visiting student from Canada. Watching them, Harry was quick to see that several members of that particular body - prominently amongst them being Draco's, Vincent's and Gregory's fathers - were missing, having been replaced by their wives and/or children for this gathering. That didn't surprise him; this place would soon be crawling with creatures to whom evil and dark feelings attracted like honey did bees. AND - despite what the Wizengamot had decided about them years ago - the chances were good that Voldemort's followers would not have fully recanted their actions while serving as active Death Eaters.

All the Hollows of Gonebren would need was just ONE chance to get loose . . .!

A gong echoed in the near distance as Rose walked over to one of the braziers framing the raised bench at the head of the amphitheatre. Drawing her wand, she aimed it into the pit of the brazier, whispering a spell to light up the cauldron within as she called out, "_**IN THE NAME OF THE QUEEN, I SUMMON THE MAGICAL PRIVY COUNCIL!**_"

Another gong echoed through the space as darkness seemed to fall over the amphitheatre for a moment, forcing everyone to blink as their surroundings seemed to vanish in a sea of black before it lifted, causing people to gape on seeing the many cloaked and hooded figures now standing on the main floor inside of the braziers. "_**ALL RISE!**_" a haunting voice then thundered throughout the amphitheatre, which made everyone immediately stand up, even those of the Wizengamot who were quite NOT used to the idea of being ordered around like that. "_**THE CASE OF THE QUEEN VERSUS MARTIN JOSEPH KNEEN IS CALLED TO ORDER! TO BE TRIED BY HER MAJESTY'S MOST EXCELLENT PRIVY COUNCIL MAGICAL OF THE REALM AND PRESIDED OVER BY DAME WILMA FRANCINE SKEGNESS, HER MAJESTY'S WITCH OF THE REALM AND HER MAJESTY'S MAGISTRATE MAGICAL OF THE LOYAL COUNTY OF LINCOLNSHIRE! IN THE NAME OF MAGIC ETERNAL, LET JUSTICE BE DONE!**_"

Another gong. "Be seated!" Wilma stated.

People then took their seats as the other Magical Sheriffs reached up to draw the hoods off their heads. On taking her seat, Wilma relaxed herself and slipped off her hood before gazing intently at Rose. "Dame Magistrate Potter, you have summoned the Magical Privy Council here this day. Is the accused ready to stand trial?"

"He is, My Lady," Rose reported.

"Is he adequately represented?"

"He has refused representation, My Lady."

Wilma's eyebrow arched. "He was given the chance to ask for such, was he not?"

"He was, My Lady," a voice echoed from off to Wilma's right.

Eyes glanced over. "Who's he?" Draco whispered to Harry.

"Sir Moore Boddy, the Queen's Magistrate Magical for Cornwall," Harry whispered back to the Slytherin. "He also runs Gonebren Prison."

Wilma looked over. "And he understand what will happen if he does not avail himself to legal representation, Sir Moore?" she asked.

Moore, a craggy-looking man who appeared to be a less-scarred version of the famous auror Alastor Moody, smirked. "My Lady, I personally believe he is under the delusion that his trial here will be a lenient affair," he stated. "Try as Dame Rose, Dame Napaeae and I have over the last week, we could not persuade him to take up his right to be represented before he faced us all here today. To the prescribed number of times as fully mandated by the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1705."

A sigh. "So be it. He has been granted his chance. Get him in here."

A bow. "As you wish, My Lady," Moore said before he waved his wand, lighting up all of the braziers on the floor. "_**MARCH IN THE ACCUSED!**_"

Instantly, a noticeable chill filled the amphitheatre as dark smoke drifted in from nowhere. As people watched spell-bound, most of the smoke coalesced in the middle of the main floor right before the bench, building up to the height of a tall man for a moment before it then dispersed, revealing a pale, shivering Martin Kneen, now strapped around both wrists and ankles in magical manacles tied now to the floor. As the accused blinked in confusion, he looked around the room for a moment before he turned up to gaze on the impassive face of Wilma Skegness. "Wh-where am I . . .?"

"This is the Circle of Justice at Gonebren Prison, Mister Kneen," Wilma flatly answered. "As they are all loyal wizards and witches to the Crown, your accusers have all demanded your trial be done before the Magical Privy Council - that's all of us in the cloaks standing around you, by the way - in lieu of bothering the House of Lords Wizengamot about it." As Martin blinked, Wilma then sat back. "Mister Kneen, you were asked _three_ times while awaiting your trial if you desired legal counsel by Sir Moore Boddy, Dame Napaeae Runcorn and Dame Rose Potter. As you've refused all three times, you will be, in effect, defending yourself. Dame Rose, please read all the charges."

"As you desire, My Lady," Rose said before she stared intently at Martin, which made him shudder. "Mister Kneen, you are accused as follows:

"You are accused of murder by use of a forbidden curse upon the person of Master Duncan Martin Collins, native of Lewisham in the Loyal County of London; father of The Right Honourable the Baron Blaise Leo of the Noble Magical House of Zabini of Lewisham." Watching this from the stands, people gaped in awe and admiration on hearing Rose speak out the charges without looking at any paper or any other guide to remind her. "You are accused of murder by use of a forbidden curse upon the person of The Right Honourable The Earl Leviticus Moses of the Noble and Ancient Magical House of Potts of Romney, native of Shepway in the Loyal County of Kent; stepfather of The Right Honourable the Baron Blaise Leo of the Noble Magical House of Zabini of Lewisham," Rose continued, remaining perfectly still as she fixed her eyes on the accused while droning the rest of the charges. "You are accused of murder by use of a forbidden curse upon the person of The Right Honourable The Earl Nehemiah Abraham of the Noble and Ancient Magical House of Kirk of Clydeford, native of Old Kilpatrick of the Loyal County of Dunbarton; stepfather of The Right Honourable the Baron Blaise Leo of the Noble Magical House of Zabini of Lewisham. You are accused of murder by use of a forbidden curse upon the person of The Right Honourable The Earl Tobias Paul of the Noble and Ancient Magical House of Vance of Swinford, native of Harborough of the Loyal County of Leicestershire; stepfather of The Right Honourable the Baron Blaise Leo of the Noble Magical House of Zabini of Lewisham. You are accused of murder by use of a forbidden curse upon the person of Señor Andreas Juan Cortez y Sáenz, native of Vitoria-Gasteiz in the Province of Álava in the Kingdom of Spain; stepfather of The Right Honourable the Baron Blaise Leo of the Noble Magical House of Zabini of Lewisham. You are accused of murder by use of a forbidden curse upon the person of Signore Benito Lucas Jacovitti, native of Termoli in the Province of Campobasso in the Italian Republic; stepfather of The Right Honourable the Baron Blaise Leo of the Noble Magical House of Zabini of Lewisham. You are accused of attempted murder by use of a forbidden curse upon the person of The Right Honourable The Earl Stefan Giovanni of the Noble and Ancient Magical House of Martin of Droitwitch, native of Wychavon of the Loyal County of Worcestershire; stepfather of The Right Honourable the Baron Blaise Leo of the Noble Magical House of Zabini of Lewisham. You are accused of planning murder upon the person of Miss Laurell Diana Hamilton, native of North Somerset in the . . . "

Martin spat out, "BAH! That was a muggle! Who . . .?"

"_**ORDER IN THIS COURT!**_"

Everyone winced on hearing that near-sonic boom emitting from the bench. Martin was nearly blasted to his knees by that scream as her turned to gaze wide-eyed at Wilma. "There will be no outbursts of THAT nature in this place, Mister Kneen. This court does NOT recognise the difference between magicals and normals. In the eyes of Her Majesty, all are equal in Her Courts of Law, especially THIS one." She then smirked. "Even if some of Her Majesty's Magical Subjects tend to FORGET that point. Another outburst from you, Mister Kneen, and you will be magically silenced." She then gazed on Rose. "Please continue reading all the charges, Dame Rose."

"As you desire, My Lady," Rose said before she gazed once more on Martin. "You are accused of planning to commit murder upon the person of one of Her Majesty's subjects whose identity is protected under the Children Act, 1989. You are . . . "

People in the audience blinked in confusion as Rose repeated that statement four more times. In the audience, Percy leaned over towards Hermione. "Miss Granger, why is it Miss Potter isn't identifying those victims by name?" he whispered.

"The Children Act is involved," Achelois whispered back before Hermione could answer. "It's a law the normal Parliament passed. Under that act - which Rose and the others are obliged to acknowledge whenever normals get involved in one way or another with magical law - the identities of people under the age of eighteen can't be spoken out in public in open court, which is what this is considered as."

Percy hummed before he turned back to the parchment he had brought with him to jot down notes. Soon enough, all the charges were read out. At the end of that, Rose turned back to Wilma. She then gazed on Martin. "Mister Kneen, how do you plead?"

A snort from the defendant. "Not guilty! You have no right to try me!"

Wilma did not appear fazed. "Oh? What makes you say that?"

"This court is not the Wizengamot! THEY'RE the only ones who can try me, not some idiot setup by blood traitors and mudbloods who . . .!"

"_**ORDER IN THIS COURT!**_"

Martin was nearly driven to his knees by that thunderous shout. "That is enough out of you," Wilma said. "Sir Moore, give him the veritaserum."

Hearing that, the accused then paled. "WHAT? YOU HAVE NO . . .!"

A thunderous roar then echoed from everywhere around Martin, which made him stop as he looked wildly around the amphitheatre. As people in the audience also looked around in confusion as they tried to trace where the noise was coming from, Moore walked up to stand beside him, a very icy smile on his face. "I would suggest to you that you keep such outbursts to a minimum," he said in a voice that sent chills down many people's backs. "You see, this isn't Azkaban, Mister Kneen. This is _Gonebren_. Earl Martin, Regent Lady Zabini and Baron Zabini asked for you to be tried HERE, not in London!" As Martin turned to stare in terror at the older man, the Magical Sheriff of Cornwall then held up a vial full of a clear liquid, a knowing smile crossing his face. "Now open up, lad. It's time for you to make some confessions." The smile slipped. "Because if you don't, then Dame Wilma will have no choice but to order you to die."

Silence.

"D-d-die . . . " Martin gasped as he felt the strength in his body go.

Moore's fingers snapped, making the chains holding him in place to instantly tense and harden into frozen rods, forcing the accused to remain standing if he didn't want his elbows to be dislocated. "That's right," the older wizard said. "You DID hear the last charge Dame Rose read out. Your membership in the Death Eaters. By the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1972, all those who took that half-blood bastard child's mark on their arms were condemned to die if they were caught outside the control of the Ministry of Magic. As you were so caught on Saturday." He then smiled. "So open up and take your drops, son. It's your only chance to survive the next hour."

Martin shuddered before he turned to gaze hopefully at Vanessa Zabini. She gazed at him with pitiless eyes, her arms crossed and her face a total mask of indifference. Before he could croak out a plea, Moore's voice hissed into his ear, "You have ten seconds to decide, Mister Kneen. Dame Rose appears to be a little wand-itchy. And all it takes to end your life will be just three words."

Martin's head snapped around to allow him to gaze at the point of a wand now aimed right at his face, the tip glowing an ominous green shade. He then blanched on seeing Rose Potter gaze at him with an icy mask of neutrality, her green eyes twin pools of death that made the accused realise that in the eyes of the Girl-Who-Lived, he was nothing more than a mere spider about to get squashed under her boot.

"Nine seconds, Mister Kneen."

Martin gargled on hearing Moore's warning, and then he nodded. "_**ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT, ALREADY! JUST CALL HER OFF! CALL HER OFF! CALL HER OFF! PLEASE!**_"

"Open up, then."

An audible gulp escaped the accused as he opened his mouth to allow Moore to allow him to take in the three drops of veritaserum . . .

* * *

Two hours later . . .

"Is she alright, Harry?"

Harry blinked on hearing Hermione's question, and then he smiled. "Rose, you mean?" As the normal-born girl nodded, he breathed out before gazing back on the amphitheatre, now empty of Magical Sheriffs, to say anything of Martin Kneen. Thanks to his confessions, the defendant had been found guilty of what he had been accused of and dragged off by the Hollows for life inside Block "A" of Gonebren - the maximum security section of the installation - the poor man screaming for mercy as the dark spirits of this place took him. "She'll be fine. She'll throw up later on when it hits her, but she'll be okay. She's gone through this a few times before. Mostly dealing with pranksters that like to enchant objects that end up hurting normals."

"Muggle-baiting, you mean?"

Harry turned to see Arthur Weasley come up, accompanying all his sons currently at Hogwarts. "That's what it's called, sir," he said with a nod. "Though . . . "

"Harry doesn't like the word 'muggle,' Father," Percy then spoke up.

Arthur took that in, and then he smiled. "Well, I suppose I can understand that, even if I'm pretty much in the habit of using that word," he then confessed with an embarrassed shrug, and then he blinked. "What happens in those cases, Harry?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"When people like your sister catch muggle-baiters?"

Harry smirked. "First offense: One year in Gonebren, usually put in Block 'C,' which is the low security wing. Second offense: Five years in Gonebren, Block 'B.' Third offense: You're in Gonebren at Her Majesty's pleasure, Block 'A.'"

"For life, in other words," Hermione added.

Jaws dropped as shivers ran through the Weasleys as they took that in. "Blimey! You'd put away someone for LIFE?" Ron gasped. "For MUGGLE-BAITING?"

"I personally would agree to that, Ron."

Ron spun on his father. "But Dad . . .!"

"That's enough, son," Arthur snapped. "Just because they don't have magic doesn't mean that muggles are stupid. How many times must I warn you about this? And you as well?" he said as he gazed on his other sons. "The muggle aurors are starting to put out those moving cameras in places in all the major cities so they can stop crime from happening. Sooner or later, something will happen that the Obliviators will miss out on and our whole society will be in danger of exposure! If you're going to be an auror after you graduate from school, you'll have to keep that in mind, son!"

Ron shuddered. "Dad . . . "

"He's right, you know."

Eyes turned as Rose came up to join them, a cup of tea in hand; many of the people waiting for the chance to return to either Hogwarts or London were currently enjoying drinks and snacks provided by the Potter siblings' house elves. "You actually have participated in going after muggle-baiters, Miss Potter?" Percy asked.

A nod. "Five times since Aunt Napaeae started allowing me to go out in the field and help catch the mutts," Rose said before she sipped her tea.

"Doesn't that bother you?" Fred wondered.

"No," she replied. "They're criminals. It's just like Grand-Aunt Wilma said to the mutt we just dealt with now: In the eyes of Her Majesty, there is NO difference between magical and normal." A sneer then crossed her face as she gazed on the Weasley brothers and their father. "Muggle-baiting is an act that threatens the security of magical society. It therefore is a violation of the Separation Act, which we ALL are obliged to obey. If you break the law, you pay the price. End of . . . "

"Hem-hem!"

Rose blinked, and then she turned to gaze on a haughty-looking Delores Umbridge. "Is there a problem, Madame Senior Undersecretary?" she asked, her voice neutral.

Delores humphed. "What are the names, Miss Potter?"

An eyebrow arched. "What names are you talking about?"

"The names of the five other muggle girls who were held prisoner by Mister Kneen," the senior undersecretary immediately answered. "We need them to send out Obliviators to ensure they have no knowledge of our world. That IS . . . "

"Against the spirit and letter of Clause Six of the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1942," Rose instantly cut her off. As Delores stared in simmering rage at the younger girl, the Magical Sheriff of Somerset then added, "To quote: 'All normal victims of all criminals acts performed by either Our magical subjects or any magical citizen of any other nation within the boundaries of Our Realm will not be subject to enforcement of Clause 64 of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy of 1689 if they have been judged by any of Our Magistrates Magical to have been sufficiently affected because of such criminal acts.' Those six girls that mutt had under his possession were all going to be sacrifices in his attempt to unleash a magical weapon of mass destruction on normals, _Miss_ Umbridge. They were subject to both physical and psychological torture. Blanking out their memories won't remove the damage to their souls, which HAS been proven by the healers of Saint Mungo's AND the Department of Mysteries as being something that is often BEYOND the reach of magic."

As Delores sputtered, Percy blinked. "Miss Potter, isn't there . . .?"

"That's what Section W of the Security Service helps us deal with, Young Master Weasley," Rose said. "Right now, Miss Hamilton and her friends are being given a full crash-course on what magical society is all about. It's part of the care they are to receive for what happened to them; that's mandated by the Proclamation I just mentioned to Miss Umbridge." She ignored Delores' incensed look. "From what the man in charge of the team that is handling their case has reported to me, they're quite supportive of the Separation Act and the Statute of Secrecy. Atop that, Doctor St. John - he's one of my magical guardians - performed the Neuwied Test on all of them. They all scored within the range for normals, but it was a high-enough score to guarantee a ninety percent chance that any children they'll have in the future will be magical."

Outside Delores - who was still sputtering at Rose's dismissal of her - the others were nodding in understanding. "So there's really no need to obliviate them since - if Mister Kneen didn't butt into their lives - they would learn about the wizarding world when their children get their Hogwarts invites," Hermione noted.

"Saves the Obliviators some work," George mused.

"Indeed it does," Arthur noted. "But what of Miss Hamilton, Rose? I would assume she's old enough to not be protected by this Children Act . . . "

"True, she is. But that doesn't give anyone from the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes clearance to go muck up her brain." Rose glanced at Delores to make sure she understood that before she stared once more at the elder Weasley. "I can trace down any magical movement in Somerset, Mister Weasley. If I even get a _whiff_ of someone going after her or the others for any reason . . . " She shook her head before sipping her tea. "Oh, Miss Umbridge, by the way: I suggest you - if you haven't done so already - re-acquaint yourself with Clause Four of the Treaty of 1779 between the Ministry and Gringotts. You might find it MOST illuminating."

Delores blinked. "What about?" she demanded.

"Objects forbidden to be used by wizards in day-to-day life, of course," Rose said as Harry stood. "C'mon, big brother. Let's get you back to the others."

They headed off, followed by Hermione and the Weasleys. Delores watched her go, confusion crossing her face before she then paled as it hit her. "But how . . .?"

* * *

"Chief Superintendant?"

John Riel perked on hearing that voice, and then he turned, a grin crossing his face as Albus came up to him and his party. The small group of Canadians had gone over to the apparation point about fifty metres away from the Circle of Justice to await the others who had come with Hogan Roper from London for their return trip back to the capital so they could complete their business and return home to Manitoba via special international portkey. "Chief Warlock Dumbledore," he said as he held out his hand for the headmaster to take, his grin widening. "How are you, Albus?"

"More than fine, John," Albus replied as he gave the Canadian officer a knowing look. While John Riel had been a student at the Institute of Science and Magic when Albus had been helping fight Gellert Grindelwald during World War Two, the younger man had been posted to Nurmengard Prison after his graduation from the Mounties' Depot Division in 1951 as part of the team of magical law enforcement officers from all of the Allied Nations who were sent there to ensure Grindelwald and his senior allies would remain incarcerated. He had been there as a constable when "the Great Break-In" - when several still-free allies of Grindelwald attacked the great fortress in hopes of liberating their dark leader - had gone down in 1954. The Canadian's quick skill with both his wand and his fists - not to mention his service pistol, Albus also knew, though he had NEVER spoken publicly of THAT! - ensured that Grindelwald would never be free. It had also won him promotion to corporal, Albus then recalled. "It's been some time since that dratted business at Nurmengard, hasn't it?"

"That it has," John affirmed; Albus had actually been visiting his old lover in Nurmengard when the Great Break-In happened. And while the reports of the Great Break-In had down-played all the things that Gellert's subordinates had been willing to unleash to free their leader, those who had been there would never forget the horrors that had been unleashed in those dark halls. "Still have bad dreams about it?"

"Sometimes, but they've faded over the years." Albus then smiled. "So would you care to introduce the remainder of your family to me?"

John laughed as he did introductions. While Albus was tempted to give both Monica and her daughter, Corporal Mary Riel, proper courtly kisses on their hands, their being in uniform held him back. He wasn't so restrained with Mary's daughter Adara, who gave him a friendly smile as he greeted her formally. By then, a small crowd of curious people had gathered close to them. "So tell me, Chief Superintendant Riel, what DOES bring a famous auror such as yourself all the way here to Britain?" Cornelius Fudge then asked as he took the chief superintendant's hand in his own.

John shrugged. "I'm afraid Her Majesty's desires bring us here, Minister Fudge." He then indicated Adara. "May I present my granddaughter, currently a first year at the Institute of Science and Magic, Aludra Adara Riel." As Adara bowed her head politely to the minister, her grandfather added, "And if Her Majesty has her way, she will soon be acknowledged as the thirty-sixth Marchioness Black of Grimmauld."

Silence.

"What?" Cornelius eeped.

Adara sighed. "My father is Sirius Black."

More silence.

"How in Merlin's Name is that possible?" Narcissa Malfoy then asked as she came up to join them, her eyes gazing intently at Adara as she quickly took note of several things - the hair colour, hair style and eye colour, especially - that would clearly mark this pretty young girl as the daughter of the disgraced (and as far as she personally knew, disowned) heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.

"It's quite simple, Marchioness Malfoy," Mary answered, an embarrassed smile crossing her face. "A tired auror out on the town having drinks after a hard day's work hunting down Riddle's sycophants. An equally tired Mountie off duty and also enjoying drinks on the town. And the Leaky Cauldron was pretty close by."

Everyone stared at her, the women present all quite awed by Mary's lack of embarrassment when it came to admitting what had happened twelve years before while the men were respectfully silent. "Why were we never told about this, Mary?" Albus asked.

"When we realised Mary was pregnant, Albus, we felt it was the safe thing for both her and her baby to be removed back to Canada so anyone who might want to target Sirius personally couldn't strike at him through my daughter or granddaughter," Monica answered for her daughter. "Thus, when she was born, Addie was registered at the Institute, not Hogwarts. Since the fighting between the Ministry and Riddle's people was getting pretty intense at the time, we decided to hold off on telling him until it was over, one way or another." A sigh. "Of course, we didn't even BEGIN to suspect what would happen after Riddle was taken down by the late Marchioness Potter."

Nods all around. "I am truly sorry this happened, Corporal Riel," Cornelius then stated as he gave Mary a sympathetic look, and then he turned once more to John. "So what exactly does Her Majesty hope to have happen concerning your granddaughter, Chief Superintendant? The late Lady Black DID disown her son . . . "

"She had no capability of doing that, Cornelius."

Everyone turned as Hogan Roper walked up to join them, accompanied by an elderly man who was dressed in a uniform similar to that of the current Magical Sheriff of London, though the coat of arms on his cape was somewhat different. "How so, Hogan?" the minister asked before he stared in confusion at Hogan's companion before he gaped as recognition dawned. "My God! Calvin Hobbes! How are you, my friend?"

"It's been a long time, Cornelius," Calvin stated as he took the minister's hand; the two had met many times over the years the retired Magical Sheriff had worked his London beat and the current Minister for Magic had risen his way up the ladders of government. "To answer your question, when I was in the position Hogie has now, after I learned that Sirius and Andromeda had broken away from their family, I invoked my reserve powers under the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1692 and declared them Magical Wards of the Crown. Anything Walburga or her husband did afterward was meaningless."

"My Heavens!" Cornelius gasped as his eyes darted over the insignia on Calvin's cloak - no doubt, Albus was quick to realise, the coat of arms had been awarded to the retired Magical Sheriff of London when he had been made a baron; he was quick to recognize the coronet style - for a quick moment before he burst out laughing. "I never knew you served the Queen directly. You never said a thing to me!"

A chuckle. "Not only her, but her father, uncle and grandfather before her. As for why I didn't say anything about it, Cornelius, you never asked!"

More laughter. "True! True!"

"Forgive me, Lord Hobbes, but you have the power to literally OVERRIDE a Head of House?" Narcissa then cut in as she stared in shock at the retired Magical Sheriff of London. "And it's magically considered legitimate?" she then demanded.

"I HAD that power when I was in the position of Her Majesty's Magical Magistrate of London, Marchioness Malfoy. That power is always there for all Magical Magistrates to use if they feel it absolutely necessary," Calvin stated. "Had Sirius not done what he did to Harry's and Rose's parents, he would have been more than eligible to take his late father's place as the Marquess Black." A sigh. "I had such hopes for the lad," he then lamented. "At least Andromeda and her family turned out quite well . . . "

Albus was quick to see the lack of any visible reaction in Narcissa's eyes on Calvin's mentioning her disowned sister. "Will Sirius' lack of an official trial cause any sort of interference if Adara decides to claim her heritage?" he asked.

"_What_ heritage . . .?" Adara quietly muttered as she rolled her eyes.

Both Monica and Mary gave their granddaughter/daughter scolding looks while John tried to fight back a delighted smirk on hearing his granddaughter rant on like that. The others clearly didn't hear her given their lack of reaction to her words. "We were just going to Gringotts to confirm what can happen in this case, Albus," John then stated before he gazed intently at Cornelius. "If it wouldn't be too much of an imposition, Minister Fudge, why don't you come with us to Diagon so that we can all go to Gringotts and speak to the Chief Director about this situation? After all, having new blood in the Wizengamot is a good thing in the long term, don't you think?"

Cornelius blinked, and then he nodded, his razor-sharp mind (honed by years of politics) quickly locking in on the many potential benefits of having a true and legal heir to the House of Black as a potential ally. "I'd be happy to come."

"But Cornelius . . .!" a whining voice then echoed from nearby.

The minister glared at Delores. "Delores, it is NOT the least bit fair that young Miss Riel here be prevented from claiming what is rightfully hers!" Cornelius snapped, his words making the senior undersecretary wince in shock at that declaration and Albus nod his head in delight on seeing that the minister was clearly demonstrating quite a firm backbone. "If she indeed can be allowed to claim her family seat, all the better!" He stared at Adara. "Miss Riel, if you are allowed to do this . . .?"

"She's committed to the Institute for the rest of the year, Minister," Mary then stated. "But afterward, if it's permitted . . . " She gazed knowingly at Albus.

The headmaster grinned. "I'm sure we'll have a place for her," he vowed.

"Excellent!" Cornelius stated. "Well, let's be off to the Alley!"

As Hogan then brought out the portkey - a length of hemp rope that had been in his family since Hogan's paternal grand-uncle Simon brought it home after he had served on the battlecruiser H.M.S. _Queen Mary_ when she was sunk at the Battle of Jutland in 1916 - he had used to transport everyone from the Ministry to Gonebren, everyone who had come with him quickly grabbed on. With a whispered command, he whisked them off back to London. Watching them go was a narrow-eyed Rose Potter . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	19. The Daughter of Black & the Ghost Riders

Diagon Alley, Gringotts, sometime later . . .

"Amazing, isn't it, Albus?"

Albus perked. "What do you mean, Narcissa?"

The matriarch of the Malfoys of Cumbria took a deep breath. Save for Adara and her relatives, everyone interested in what could soon happen to the Noble and Most Ancient Magical House of Black of Grimmauld was waiting in one of the large guest lounges close to the ritual chambers where Harry Potter, before the start of the school year, had gone into so he could claim his place as the Marquess Potter of Taunton Deane. "I'm sure Remus Lupin - as well as Harry and Rose - have long questioned what really happened when my cousin was captured in Birmingham right after the Dark Lord's fall," Narcissa admitted. "Even if it seemed to both Cornelius and the Aurors involved in his arrest that the matter was cut-and-dried due to his confession . . . "

"He still deserved . . . " Here, Albus paused. "No. For Harry's and Rose's sake in the long run, THEY deserve to see him properly brought to trial so that the truth could be aired out finally." A sigh. "I've tried several times - both when Millicent was Minister and then later after Cornelius assumed the post - to see to it Sirius would get his proper day in court. I've been brushed off every time I've tried to have something like that placed on the agenda of the Wizengamot during our yearly planning sessions." A tired shake of the head. "I would be tempted to give up, Narcissa. No one seems to care for the fact that a wizard was not granted his proper right to face his accusers in a formal court of law! But to do that . . .!"

"Maybe we have to break him out of Azkaban and let Rose or one of her friends catch him," a new voice proposed. "Then at least he'd get a trial at Gonebren."

Both looked down at a smiling Raven Malfoy. "Raven, are you actually promoting an act of civil disobedience?" Narcissa asked as she gave her daughter a knowing look.

"Well, regardless of what might have really happened all those years ago, the Headmaster does have a point, Mother," Raven noted. "How would YOU like it if someone came up, clapped you in magical suppression manacles and threw you into Azkaban Prison without giving you a chance to defend yourself before the Wizengamot?"

Narcissa jolted on hearing her daughter's words, and then she sighed. "True."

"Cissa?"

Narcissa blinked on hearing that, and then she smiled as she greeted Helena Crabbe and Philippa Goyle, who had come with their daughters to do some business at the bank before heading home for the day. As soon as Raven's mother was a sufficient distance away, Albus gazed at her. "Speaking of which, Raven, tell me: How does Cassiopeia view what her parents did, especially when it concerns Grace's parents?"

A sad smile. "Cassi's ashamed of what they did, Headmaster," Raven replied. "But it doesn't mean she hates them." A shrug. "I've long accepted what my father was involved in even if I don't agree to any of it. So does she, not to mention Lotti and Ariel, too." She then sighed as she gazed over at the closed door of the ritual chamber. "I hope cousin Adara feels the same way," she added in a whisper.

"What do you mean?"

Raven gave him a knowing look. "You can't sense Rose's emotions like I can, Grandpapa," she said, keeping her voice down. "When she found out the truth about Adara, she was REALLY mad." As Albus gaped at her, the younger Malfoy child nodded. "I know. It's stupid. You can't force what Adara's father did on her shoulders. Neither can Rose or her big brother. But then again, when she and her big brother were being raised by Uncle Moony, they were probably told of how close Adara's father was to their father. And then . . . " She shook her head. "It still doesn't make sense!"

Albus nodded as he conjured a seat for him to relax in. "Nor has it really made any sense to me, Raven," he admitted as he sat. "And I will keep on trying to press for that trial, most of all for Harry's and Rose's sake." A smile. "And Adara's."

Raven gazed at him. "You know her mother's family?"

A nod. "Her grandfather and I were involved in the so-called 'Great Break-In' at Nurmengard in 1954; he was a constable in the Force's Special Detachment 'N' at the time." Raven knew "the Force" was the preferred term members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police used to describe themselves as a group. "He comes from a long line of law enforcement officers; descent from the time France controlled what today is modern Québec. I've never seen a more dedicated lawman since Alastair . . . oh!"

Everyone perked as the doors to the ritual chamber then opened, revealing Erlking leading the members of the Riel family out into the open. As everyone gazed expectantly at him, the goblin director smiled. "If you will all kindly wait for a few minutes, I'll have you escorted to the Chief Director's office, ladies and gentlemen."

With that, he headed through a side door. Albus blinked, and then he gazed intently at John for a moment. The latter gave the former a knowing look, which made the headmaster blink in surprise before he nodded in understanding. "So what exactly happened?" Delores demanded as she came up to glare intently at Adara. "Don't tell me those filthy beasts actually decided that this COLONIAL has the right . . .?"

"_**IS THERE A PROBLEM, MADAME?**_"

EVERYONE gaped on hearing Monica Riel's magnified voice as the inspector seemed to literally apparate right before Delores, looming over the smaller woman like a VERY angry drill sergeant at Depot Division in Regina facing a fresh cadet on the first day of Basic Training. Before the shocked senior undersecretary could say a thing in response to the older woman's thunder, a side door opened to reveal two goblin guards, both holding ceremonial pikes. "Forgive me, Inspector Riel, but is there a problem?" one of them asked as he brandished his weapon threateningly at Delores, which made her pale even more as that sharp, shiny blade seemed to loom right over her head.

"Yes, Honoured Guardsman, there IS quite the problem here today," Monica stated as she gave the goblin a knowing grin. "It appears the Senior Undersecretary here is of the opinion that SHE and SHE ALONE possesses the SOLE right to decree the results of a blood inheritance test issued by this most august institution." As the guards both tensed on sensing what the Canadian officer was implying, Monica drove another nail in Delores' coffin by adding, "Or she may actually look upon your leaders as LIARS!"

Delores gasped before she found herself dragged away by the guards out of the room. Before Cornelius could utter a word of protest, the door Erlking had used to head out of the room opened again to reveal the goblin director in question. "Excuse me, Inspector Riel, but did something happen?" he asked, a knowing look on his face.

"Yes, something DID happen here, Director," Monica stated before explaining.

At the end of that, Erlking sighed. "It would appear, Minister, that you'll be needing a new Senior Undersecretary before long," he said as he gazed knowingly at Cornelius, an icy smile on his face. "Perhaps we can, in our own small way, help force the process along. Please come in, everyone. The Chief Director awaits you all."

People nodded as they followed the goblin inside. Soon entering the ornate office of the Chief Director of Gringotts Britain, Adara stood to attention, and then clasped her hands before her, bowing her head. "«_Lord War Leader Ragnok, this mere child humbles herself before thee and bids thee most sincere greetings this beautiful day_,»" she declared in accented Gobbledegook as she kept her head bowed. "«_May your gold always flow, your enemies fall before you and may you feast on their hearts, drink their blood and seize all their gold as war booty to shower over you and yours._»"

Ragnok and Erlking - not to mention several younger goblins, including a female healer Albus had met on several occasions in previous visits to Gringotts - all gaped, which made the other visiting Canadians smile. "Merlin!" Cornelius gasped as he stared at John. "You let your granddaughter learn how to speak Gobbledegook?"

The chief inspector chuckled. "It appears that one of the minor magical gifts my family has demonstrated over the years came out full-force in my granddaughter, Minister Fudge: A gift for foreign languages. Adara is fluent in a half-dozen of them already, the least of which being English and French, of course. And she plans to learn much more before she's done her schooling, be assured of that."

Ragnok cackled. "So I was told by Chief Director Hardtack from his office in Québec City when I communicated with him after you sent your message to me concerning your granddaughter and her relationship with Lord Black, Chief Superintendant," he said before bowing his head to Adara. "«_Lady Adara, Marchioness Black of Grimmauld, Lady of the Loyal Houses of Riel of Assiniboia and Scott of Rideau, you need not humble yourself before this humble warrior_,»" he greeted in his native tongue. "«_May your gold always flow, your enemies fall before you and may you feast on their hearts, drink their blood and seize all their gold as war booty to shower over you and yours._»"

"«_I thank thee, Lord War Leader._»"

"«_And I thank thee, Marchioness Black._»"

Both straightened themselves and gazed in appreciation at each other. "I assume by the cadence of your words to each other, Chief Director, that Miss Riel is able to claim her father's family seat as part of the Wizengamot?" Albus then asked.

"You are quite correct, Chief Warlock," Ragnok stated. "Everyone, please, be seated and be comfortable." As the humans in the room all took their seats - with Adara moving to sit down at the guest chair on the opposite side of Ragnok's desk from where the chief director himself was seated - he then gave them all a toothy grin. "Today is a profitable day for us all if we're keen enough to seize it."

"Indeed so, sir," Cornelius stated. "Still, there are those who will be asking this question - and please, Miss Riel, I mean no offense when I say these words . . . " - He gave Adara an apologetic look, which she returned with a smile - " . . . but how exactly is she considered eligible to become the Lady Black if her parents never got married in the first place, to say anything of what Orion and Walburga did . . .?"

Ragnok chuckled. "A good question, Minister. And an easily answered one," he stated. "This all became possible thanks to the interference of Baron Hobbes here when he was serving as Her Majesty's Magistrate Magical for London, to which traditionally, the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black of Grimmauld falls under in the eyes of the British Crown." As people gazed on Calvin Hobbes - now seated beside Hogan Roper and John Riel - the chief director continued, "As Baron Hobbes can attest, he declared both Sirius Black and Andromeda Black - as well as Sirius' brother Regulus - as being Magical Wards of the Crown in the summer of 1973, just after Sirius' second year at Hogwarts, after Regulus' first year at the school, and just after Andromeda had become formally married to Theodore Tonks. By doing this, he ensured that neither Sirius' nor Regulus' parents, to say anything of Andromeda's parents, could do ANYTHING to use their family magic to force them back into their family's control."

"It was one way I was able to ensure the Blacks couldn't support Riddle as much as they wanted to," Calvin stated. "I was sadly too late for yourself and your older sister, Marchioness Malfoy, but at least I made sure the other elements of your family would remain clear of any trouble forced on them by Orion or Walburga."

"Why couldn't you do the same thing for Mother and Aunt Bellatrix, my lord?" Raven asked as she gazed in curiosity at the retired Magical Sheriff of London.

"Because when your mother and aunt married their husbands right after they both graduated from Hogwarts, young lady, they then fell under the jurisdiction, so to speak, of different Magistrates Magical. In your mother's case, the Magistrate Magical of Cumbria. In your aunt's case, the Magistrate Magical of Herefordshire as the part of Barnet they lived in was part of that county before the urban administrations were reorganised in the 1960s." He then smiled. "And despite what we suspected about them, we are certainly NOT in the business of tearing families apart unless we feel we have no choice but to do just that!" A sigh. "Which I did when it came to the Blacks."

"Why's that, Calvin?" Cornelius asked.

"Inbreeding, Cornelius," his friend answered. "Have you ever SEEN their family tree? Especially in recent years? It's a damn wonder to me, even NOW, that Sirius and Regulus actually got their Hogwarts invitations at all given that their parents were actually second cousins when they got married!" A sigh as he shook his head. Others in the room were quick to see the lack of reaction from Narcissa when it came to Calvin's rant. "I watched over that family for quite some time," he lamented. "They were just going to implode themselves in the long term! What a damned waste!"

"Surely not everyone was like that," Albus noted.

"Fortunately not," Calvin noted. "Take Walburga's brother Alphard, for example. Decent fellow all around. Pity that Sirius' father agreed to have him disowned from the family for giving Sirius the gold he needed to live his life away from Grimmauld."

"Is Grand-Uncle Alphard still alive?" Adara asked.

A nod. "He lives in an apartment here in town, along with your maternal great-grandaunt Cassiopeia and your maternal great-granduncle Marius."

"Were they removed from the family?" John asked.

"Marius was; he turned out to be a non-magical pureblood," Calvin answered.

"A squib, you mean," Cornelius stated.

Calvin made a face. "Never liked that word," he admitted. "Cassiopeia missed her brother a lot, so she helped him make his way in the normal world after he was forced onto the streets by his parents when he should have gone to Hogwarts. And since she had a way of keeping Arcturus and later Orion in line, neither of them had the heart to consider removing her from the family for her supporting Marius."

"Did you have to intervene when Alphard was disowned?" Albus asked.

"Not really," Calvin stated. "He was an adult already and making a very good living for himself when his sister persuaded her husband to do that to him. I got to him right afterward and administered the Loyal Oath to him, so he would stay safe from Riddle and his band of traitors." He ignored the slight wince Narcissa made on hearing him call the Death Eaters THAT. "These days, they're all living their lives in peace. And this stout fellow here makes sure they stay that way," he said as he thumbed Hogan.

"My Lord . . . " Hogan moaned.

Laughter filled the room. "So what does this mean for Miss Riel, Ragnok?" Cornelius then asked as he stared at the chief director of Gringotts. "The Lady Cassiopeia is still alive and seen as part of the family. She would have solid ground to challenge Miss Riel's claim for the Black seat in the Wizengamot."

"Fortunately for the present Marchioness Black, the Lady Cassiopeia was not recognised by her grandfather, Marquess Phineas Black, as being in the direct line for leadership of the overall family," Ragnok answered, not showing any visible annoyance at being addressed by name by the minister. "The line of succession went through Marquess Phineas' eldest son, Marquess Sirius Black II, to his grandson the Marquess Arcturus. And eventually to his great-grandson, the Marquess Orion Black."

"Chief Director, what did Uncle Orion's final will state when it came to succession in his family?" Narcissa then asked.

A smile. "A good question, Marchioness Malfoy," Ragnok stated. "As yourself and your sisters are seen as being part of a cadet branch of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, you or your prodigy can't be seen as potential heirs to the seat in the Wizengamot until such time as all branches of the main line have died out without issue or married out. Your aunt, the Lady Lucretia, married Ignatius Prewett, thus any children she might have had - which she had not by the time she passed nine years ago - would have been disqualified. Your cousin Regulus died without issue. Thus, the inheritance of the Black seat falls on Sirius' shoulders. Since he has issue . . . "

Eyes locked on Adara as some of the people in the room gazed on her. "Even when out of wedlock, Chief Director?" Mary Riel then asked.

"Under normal circumstances, your daughter would have been disqualified to inherit the position of the leader of the Black family, Corporal Riel," Ragnok stated. "But before his death around the time his younger son died, Marquess Orion was persuaded by his father-in-law to keep all potential options open." He stared at Adara. "I would suspect that he was hoping that Regulus would get married and have his own children. In his will - which could NOT changed by Lord Pollux no matter how much he could have tried before his own passing a year ago, Marchioness Black - your grandfather declared that ANY blood descendant of himself would be allowed to take the seat and the leadership of the family, _regardless of how they were born._" He tapped the pile of parchment to one side of his desk. "Only if Sirius had no children - either blood-born or adopted - could any members of the cadet branches of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black (such as the Young Mistress Raven here as her brother will inherit the Malfoy seat) could be considered as potential succession candidates."

"Which leads to one potential problem," Erlking then added.

"That being?" Adara asked.

"Sirius Black being Marquess Harold Potter's godfather."

Silence.

"Going back to the fact that he's never had a proper trial, you mean," Adara noted as Albus was quick to sense a flash of worry in Cornelius' eyes.

"Exactly, Your Grace."

"What could happen in that case?" Narcissa wondered.

"On the odd chance that Sirius is proven innocent of what he was accused of, he could come forth and try to challenge his daughter for the seat," Erlking warned. "Even more so, he could do a ritual blood-adoption with Marquess Potter as he was recognised by the lad's late parents as his legal godfather, thus giving Marquess Potter the right to declare any of his children as the legitimate successor to the Black seat in the Wizengamot; of course, considering how the rules of your government work, there's no way for Marquess Potter to claim both house votes in the Wizengamot."

Cornelius hummed. "I see . . . "

Albus tried not to visibly wince. While he was all for giving Sirius a trial to finally air out the truth concerning the events leading to the deaths of Harry's and Rose's parents over a decade before, the fact that Orion Black's open-ended will was now giving Sirius' own daughter - a certainly delightful young lady raised in a very good home, he had realised right away - a clear path to claim the Black family seat in the Wizengamot would clearly persuade Cornelius to do everything he could to keep Sirius in Azkaban and as far away from the Ministry and the Wizengamot as possible.

Before he could say anything though, John Riel then spoke up, "Minister Fudge?"

Cornelius looked over. "Yes?"

"As a policeman, I prefer to see to it that proper legal procedures ARE followed when it comes to cases such as this, especially when you're talking about potential acts of treason that result in murder and attempted murder," the Canadian stated. "You'll find that my granddaughter has been raised the same way." As people gazed at him, he added, "At the same time, we have to consider what Addie's father's gone through these last ten years or so. I know about Dementors; we have similar beings helping us keep our own criminals incarcerated and docile in Quttinirpaaq Penitentiary on Ellesmere Island. Even if he did face trial and somehow was proven innocent, would he be in any sort of decent shape to take up his responsibilities in the Wizengamot?"

The minister blinked, and then he hummed. Unseen by many, Albus was quick to send John a look of thanks. "Yes, that is true . . . "

Adara sighed. "I would hope you could do something about it, sir."

Cornelius looked over. "Adara . . .?"

"For my peace of mind and my mother's, too," she said as she gazed hopefully at him. "But most of all, do it for Harry and Rose. They deserve answers."

He took that in, and then he nodded. "I'll see what can be done," he then said before standing up, offering his hand. "Lady Black, I hope to see you soon."

"I'll try to make it around the Ministry soon enough, sir," Adara stated as she took his hand and gave it a firm shake before she turned to Ragnok.

"The family ring, if I may, Lord War Leader?"

* * *

Islington, near Highbury and Islington Station, later that day . . .

"_**GUNJUN, KEJUN BLACK: FIDELIUS EVANESCO!**_"

Albus jolted as he felt the powerful wave of energy warp through his body as Hogan finished the sweep of his wand arm, and then he shuddered. "Truly something incredible," he mused as he, Hogan and the Riels found themselves focusing once more on the multi-floor brownstone located on a side street off Upper Street south of the local underground and National Rail station. "I lost total track of this place's location right after Sirius was incarcerated a decade ago. I assume Walburga and Pollux placed a new Fidelius on this location sometime after Tom fell to ensure no one could come after them." A sigh. "Not that the Ministry would come after them, of course."

"And you wonder why I'm so hesitant in accepting what I'm supposed to 'inherit' from this house of inbreds, Professor?" Adara wondered as she stared at him.

Albus chuckled. "Ah, yes! The wonderful Canadian prejudice towards any sort of inbreeding," he noted as they all walked up the stone steps to the back door of 12 Grimmauld Place. "Your grandfather explained it to me quite well when we were in Germany before we had to deal with Gellert Grindelwald's friends, Adara."

"I hope there are fresh bloods in my future classes, Professor."

Albus was quick to understand what the young Canadian-born student meant by the phrase "fresh bloods." "Be assured, my dear, there are many of them."

Adara made a loud exhale of relief as Hogan whispered an unlocking charm to open the back door, revealing a long, dark hallway lit with gas lamps. A quick check of the space quickly revealed how much the house had fallen into disrepair. "God! Is there anyone alive in this place?" Mary wondered as everyone else drew out their wands.

"WHO'S THERE?"

Albus blinked on recognising the voice of the long-dead Walburga Black echo through the house. Before he could speak, Hogan set his jaw. "_**ALL WITHIN THE HOME OF THE HOUSE OF BLACK, HEAR THIS WELL!**_" he bellowed so loud, everyone else's ears shook. "_**THIS HOUSE IS SEIZED BY ORDER OF THE QUEEN! ALL THOSE LIVING IN HERE ARE TO PRESENT THEMSELVES BEFORE ME, HER MAJESTY'S MAGICAL SHERIFF OF LONDON, AT ONCE!**_"

Silence.

"MAGICAL SHERIFF?" that aged voice then shrieked.

_Pop!_ "No, Great Master Magical Sheriff who serves the Greatest Mistress of All! Please no hurts Mistress! Hurts Kreacher instead! Kreacher . . .!"

"_**BE SILENT!**_"

Albus winced on seeing what had just appeared before Hogan: An elderly house elf that seemed merely skin and bones, dressed only in a dark blue shawl that seemed ready to fall apart at the seams. Before he could say anything more, Hogan sighed. To see ANY intelligent creature - even a house-elf serving a traditionally Dark family - reduced to THIS made his stomach roll. "Tanny! Get over here now!" he barked out.

_Pop!_"What's the matter, Master Hogan . . . OH, MY!"

Kreacher, who had prostrated himself before the just-arrived Magical Sheriff of London, then looked up on sensing a VERY powerful house elf close by . . . and then he gaped on seeing said house elf was in the form of a very pretty human girl. "AH!" he wailed as he bolted to his feet. "FREAK! FREAK ELF! YOU NO . . .!"

"_**I SAID 'BE SILENT!'**_"

Kreacher froze on hearing Hogan's roar, and then he stared fearfully at the giant man now standing at the entrance of his beloved mistress' home, radiating an authority that threatened to totally overwhelm all his deep bonds to the House of Black. Before he could try to understand what was going on and how it was possible for these wizards to break into his beloved mistress' home, a young human girl in very odd school robes walked around Hogan to stand before him, and then she knelt, her grey eyes - the eyes Master Regulus and his disgraceful brother had! - shining with . . .

No . . .

Could it be . . .?

Was she . . .?

"M-Mistress . . .?"

And with that, Kreacher moaned as he passed out into Adara's arms. "Master Hogan?" Tanny Stevens asked as she stared hopefully at Hogan.

He sighed. "Summon the Magical Constabulary of the Metropolis, Tanny," he then ordered. "Including all their elves. Have them come here immediately."

Tanny nodded. "Yes, Master!" _Pop!_

As she vanished, Hogan took a deep breath, and then he stared at Albus. "Ever since our positions were established all those years ago, we were always told never to interfere in the lives of 'mainstream' wizards unless we felt we had no choice." A shake of the head. "I sometimes wonder if that was ever such a good policy at all."

Albus smiled as he squeezed the larger man's shoulder. "We are all human at the end, Hogie," he stated before walking past Adara and the passed-out Kreacher to place himself before a large painting covered by a black curtain. A quick flick of his hand opened the curtain to reveal the portrait of an elderly woman in formal Victorian-era like dress. "It has been quite a long time, Walburga," he then stated.

The image of Walburga Josephina Black jolted on hearing the voice of what was - to her when she was still among the living - one of the most hated people in all of Great Britain. "Professor Dumbledore," she then frostily greeted before her face twisted into a disgusted sneer as she glared murderously at him. "How did you break the Fidelius on this home? Only those of the blood of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black can know of this place! What have you done, you muggle-loving . . .?"

"_**THAT IS ENOUGH!**_"

Walburga gasped on hearing that voice, and then she turned as Hogan walked over to stand beside the headmaster. "Who . . .?" she began before she gaped. "You're Xavier Roper, aren't you? Of the Ropers of Bellacourt! Boniface's son!"

"The same, Lady Black," Hogan stated. "Atop being of that family, I am also Her Majesty's Magical Sheriff and Magistrate Magical of the old County of London. By ancient tradition, your slowly-disintegrating family is under my overall supervision." As Walburga's image began to cringe on hearing the unspoken threat behind those words, Hogan smiled. It wasn't a friendly one, Albus was quick to note. "By all that is right and holy in this Universe, given your family's nearly all-out support for that half-blood bastard child of a TRAITOR to the Realm AND Magic you called a Dark Lord, all of your blood should have been fed to the Hollows of Gonebren after Riddle was struck down." As Walburga moaned on hearing of THEM, Hogan sighed. "Fortunately for you, Her Majesty elected to give your family ONE LAST CHANCE to redeem themselves!"

Hearing that, Walburga gulped. Even if she and her family had never really interacted with the Royal Family given their seeming willingness to live full-time among the muggles (as Walburga herself had always seen it), she knew they were still subjects of the Crown. And ultimately answerable to whomever held the Throne.

"H-h-How so, M-m-My Lord Sh-sh-Sheriff . . .?"

Hogan smirked as he waved down the hallway, making a beckoning motion with his hand. By then, Albus was quick to see, several human-shaped house elves had popped in to help care for the unconscious Kreacher, thus allowing Adara to come over to stand beside Hogan. On seeing her, Walburga gasped as her eyes quickly locked on the younger girl's wavy black hair and grey eyes, which marked her as a clear descendant of her own flesh and blood. "Oh, my . . . " she gasped. "Are you Regulus' . . .?"

Adara sighed. "No, Grandmother. I'm Sirius' daughter. Uncle Regulus died without children," she declared. "And you and Grandfather were stripped by Sir Xavier's predecessor as Her Majesty's Magical Sheriff of London, the Baron Calvin Hobbes of Battersea, of all parental rights over Father and cousin Andromeda well before you formally disowned them. I am now the Marchioness Black of Grimmauld."

Silence.

Walburga lowered her eyes in acknowledgement. "You have the ring. Only one of the blood of my husband can hold that ring. You are the Lady Black, granddaughter." She then gazed on her. "What is your name, child? And who is your mother?"

Adara smiled as she gave her grandmother a formal bow. "Aludra Adara Riel. I am the daughter of Corporal Mary Angelina Riel, she herself the daughter of Chief Superintendant John Louis Riel of the Loyal House of Riel of Assiniboia and Inspector Monica Margaret Scott of the Loyal House of Scott of Rideau."

Walburga perked. "I've never heard of either family!"

"They're Canadian, Walburga," Albus explained.

More silence.

"_Colonials_ . . .?" Walburga moaned.

"_**HEY!**_"

Everyone jolted on hearing that barked shout, and then eyes locked on Adara, who was now glaring intently at the portrait of her paternal grandmother. "Believe me, lady, being related to a family of near-powerless INBREDS like YOURS doesn't do MY stomach any favours!" the young woman hissed out before she turned and marched away.

Walburga watched her go, clearly shocked by the venomous outburst from her granddaughter, and then she gazed hopefully at Albus. "Is she pure?"

Albus chuckled. "Oh, be assured, Walburga, she is 'pure' by your standards," he explained. Before she could relax, though, he added, "But you now have to face someone who has a much different way of looking at things than what you're used to. You see, in Canada, the social goal is not to be 'pureblooded' as you define it, but 'pure in magic.' In your granddaughter's eyes, the idea of marrying one's second cousin just to preserve magic is a most loathsome act. All muggleborns in Canada are welcomed into their society with open arms and seen as beacons of light guaranteeing strong magical children in the future. Your granddaughter has been indoctrinated in that philosophy since her birth, I believe. Be assured, when she seeks out her future husband or wife, he or she will most likely be muggleborn. Do have a good day, Walburga."

As he walked away, the image of Walburga Black collapsed to her knees as a pained moan escaped her. "No! No, please! Not mudbloods . . .!"

Hogan shook his head before he walked away. "Mudbrain!"

On hearing THAT, Walburga began to wail . . .

* * *

West of Eastbourne in East Sussex, that very moment . . .

"Mother . . . "

Hearing that quiet exclamation, the auburn-haired woman appearing to be on the short side of twenty years old perked, and then she looked over to gaze on the unmoving black-haired, grey-eyed man appearing to be in his early twenties, now lying on the bed in one of the bedrooms on the upper floor of a plain manor house near the intersection of two rural roads overlooking the chalk cliffs rising from the level of the Channel coast between Beachy Head and Birling Gap south of the village of East Dean. As she watched the poor man look around the room in confusion, her dark grey eyes narrowed as she walked over to stand beside his head, she then leaning down to gently brush a hand over his forehead. "What is it, Reg? What about your mother?" she asked.

"I . . . " he began before blinking again. "I just remembered . . . "

"Remembered what?" she asked.

"Where my family home was."

Silence.

"You're dead to them, Reg," she stated as she shifted herself around to sit down on the bed. "You've been dead to them for a dozen years now. You can't expect to just march back home and say 'hello' to your relatives and expect them to welcome you back with open arms. Especially when you fell into that pool in the cave down below."

Hearing the caution in her words, he blinked before closing his eyes. "They set a Fidelius Charm on the place . . . " he whispered. "By the time I could feel my magic again, I couldn't remember where I had lived my life before going to Hogwarts . . . "

She nodded. "That means one of your relatives may have returned home."

More silence.

"Who . . .?" he asked. "Sirius, maybe . . .?"

"Perhaps," she stated. "You're still not fully recovered from your experience in the pool, Reg. Don't worry about it. Now that I've _seen_ the house's location in your mind, there's no way any future masking shield will prevent us from tracking the place down and getting in there so we can get the locket."

He gazed on her as his mind - still badly hazed thanks to the seemingly endless time the man that had been born Regulus Arcturus Black thirty years before had spent in an underground lake filled nearly to the brim with magically-animated corpses, spared only by the black crystal fragments burned into the skull-and-snake mark on his lower left arm - focused on what she had said, and then he nodded. "Yes . . . we must get the locket . . . " he whispered as a fresh wave of fatigue surged through his body, his eyes fluttering. "It must be destroyed . . . only then will the Dark Lord fall . . . "

Hearing that, she hummed as her mind drifted back twelve years . . .

* * *

_West of Eastbourne in East Sussex, Saturday 15 December 1979, late evening . . ._

_ "Hey! You got more of this hash, Shirl? This is good stuff!"_

_ Hearing her sister's words, Shirley Anderson shrugged before waving her hand in the direction of the five Triumph T140 Bonneville motorcycles parked nearby on the grass off Birling Gap Road. The cargo pouch attached to the seat of the middle machine then opened - without any physical hand doing the action - thus allowing a wrapped bag filled with a brownish-golden paste to float out and drift over to land in her hand. She then handed it to Mildred, a woman a year older than she, though she looked almost the same except for styling her hair in twin stubby ponytails behind her ears. Gazing at the package, Mildred then smiled as the wrapping around the hashish then undid itself - again, without physical hands performing this act - thus allowing her to drop in several dollops into the bowl of her bong. Allowing it to pass back to Shirley, Mildred took in a deep breath before she leaned back on the rock she was resting against. "Oh, that's nice . . . " she said as the fumes from the burning weed in her bong filled her lungs, thus allowing the drug to flood her nervous system._

_ "Pass that stuff over here, Millie!" Chrystal Taggart called out._

_ Mildred allowed the hash to float over into the waiting hand of the raven-haired tomboy with the reading glasses. "Don't suck it all down, Chrys," she said. "That shit's worth a damned mint on the streets! We can't go chokin' off our dealers just to get more of it." She ignored the raised index and middle fingers Chrystal gave her in response to that._

_ "So what do we do about the bloody pit below us?" Hilary Cairn asked as she held out her hand. Chrystal passed the hashish over to her, thus allowing both her and her twin sister Serena to dip into the drugs to fill out their own bongs. "Something's in there, alive and trapped. And it's linked to other things all over the country."_

_ "We'll get to it soon," Mildred noted. "Whoever it was who set up that place knew how to protect it." She gazed on her healing left hand; it had been burned by the strange energy fields protecting the artificial door buried in the dark cave cut into the sides of the cliffs to the south and east of their position. While such would have driven any normal person to her knees in agony, Mildred Anderson and her companions - as a group, they called themselves the "Ghost Riders" in homage to the lead character of an American comic book series one of Serena's sex friends based at R.A.F. Station Alconbury had introduced her to a couple of years ago - hadn't thought of themselves as "normal" people for a very long time. "If necessary, we'll brute-force it."_

_ The other girls smirked before they suddenly tensed. "Incoming," Hilary warned._

_ Everyone then turned as dual _pops! _of displaced air echoed from somewhere behind Chrystal, revealing a black robed-and-hooded figure with a white, skull-like mask covering his face. Beside him was a creature that seemed only as tall as the man's knees, looking semi-humanoid with large, pointed, floppy ears, a bald head and very skinny arms and legs, draped only in a ragged cloth. As the Riders took that in, the man seemed to focus on them before a grunt escaped him. "Bloody Muggles . . . " he muttered under his mask as he raised what appeared to be a thin stick at them._

_ "_**OBLIVIATE!**_"_

_ A blast of energy leapt out of the stick right at them . . ._

_ . . . and then suddenly turned straight UP and vanished into the night sky!_

_ Silence._

_ "That was rather rude of you."_

_ More silence._

_ "Master . . .?" the tiny creature beside the man gasped._

_ Still more silence._

_ "H-h-How . . .?" the man sputtered as he focused on Mildred; she had spoken out._

_ Five pairs of eyes focused on him. Noting that, he then gargled as those eyes seemed to glow with a darkish red fire. On seeing that, the man then began to quake as he noticed jet-black pointed stripes appearing on the exposed parts of the ladies' bodies as they stood up as a group, still calmly smoking their bongs as they walked over to place themselves right before him. Watching THAT, he raised his wand._

_ "_**REDUCTO!**_"_

_ A silver blast of energy raced at the approaching Riders . . ._

_ . . . and turned straight into the sky, dissipating instantly._

_ "_**CRUCIO!**_"_

_ A red jet of light lashed out . . ._

_ . . . and again turned heavenward._

_ "_**AVADA KEDAVRA!**_"_

_ This time, it was a green blast of energy . . ._

_ . . . which also proved useless._

_ "You ought to stop before you tire yourself out, sport."_

_ And even more silence._

_ "H-h-how . . .?" the masked man sputtered._

_ Hearing that, Mildred smirked as she held up her hand . . ._

_ . . . and the mask covering the face of a rather handsome young man with wavy black hair and grey eyes flew away from him to land into her outstretched hand._

_ "_**HOW DARES YOU DOES THAT TO MASTER REGULUS, FILTHY MUDBLOOD!**_"_

_ The small creature beside the man lashed out with his hands, sending a giant ball of invisible energy right at the Ghost Riders . . ._

_ . . . which then dissipated into nothingness!_

_ The creature's jaw dropped. "How . . .?"_

_ Serena's hand then came up, allowing a virtual storm of black energy to lash out and tear through his body from head to toe, making him scream out in agony as he jerked and jolted around as if he was being electrocuted. Which he actually was._

_ "NO! STOP! DON'T KILL HIM! PLEASE! YOU DON'T . . . URRRRRK!"_

_ The man's voice was instantly cut off as an invisible pincer of energy snared him by the throat and began to squeeze hard on his windpipe. "You don't seem to understand," Chrystal stated with a smile that had utterly no humour in it. "YOU are the one who tried to attack and kill us right now. And you expected us to just stand there and let you do that to us?" She shook her head. "Won't happen."_

_ "Who do you suppose he is?" Hilary asked. "He's got the black crystals in him."_

_ "Let's find out," Shirley stated as she walked up to him, her hand reaching out._

_ A second later, an inhuman shriek echoed through the night . . ._

* * *

Shirley smiled as she gently closed Regulus' eyes. She had been quick to note the relieved smile on his face. And that spelt one thing.

The ancient locket bearing one of the soul fragments of one Thomas Marvolo Riddle, also known as "Lord Voldemort," was once more within reach.

But unlike the wizard currently sleeping in the bed, Shirley - not to mention the other Ghost Riders - had no intention whatsoever of destroying the locket to ensure the soul fragment would be dispersed and never pose a threat to anyone.

They had something else in mind.

Rising, she headed out of the bedroom and down the stairs into the living room, where the other Riders were currently dozing off (as was the case of Hilary and Serena), reading a magazine (Chrystal) or watching the television (Mildred). None of them reacted to her arrival, nor did they move when Shirley announced as she turned to head into the kitchen, "Reg can now remember where his family home's located."

The four other woman remained still, though their minds - even the Cairn twins in their slumber - did register those words. Instantly, their own minds reached up into Regulus' bedroom to probe into his brain and pick out the information they - in one sense of the term - had waited almost a decade to finally obtain.

_The home of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black of the Marquisate of Grimmauld is located at Number 12, Grimmauld Lane, Islington, London . . . _

Setting her magazine aside, Chrystal stood up and walked out of the living room, heading to the stairwell leading to the basement level of the manor house. Once there, she walked into an empty room, then tapped a place on one of the cinder blocks lining one of the walls there. A hidden door then opened, leading into a spiralling metal staircase deep into the earth, the walls faintly lined with red crystals, all softly glowing with both light and heat. She then began walking down the stairs, which soon opened into a natural cavern, the majority of the floor covered in a deep freshwater lake, an island built of multi-coloured crystals rising from the centre of it. The stairs led to the middle of the island, where a small mound with a sink-like top stood.

Stepping off the stairs, Chrystal's deep brown eyes glowed as she made a waving motion with her hand towards the east. Instantly, bubbles began to appear in the still water as something surged up from the bottom of the pool. That something soon emerged, revealing a crystal tube hued deep red, easily the size of the average coffin.

Within it was a nude human woman.

Chrystal smiled as she beckoned the chamber out of the lake, allowing it to float over to a spot close to the place where Tom Riddle had, just after he had killed a tramp and an elderly witch named Hepzibah Smith in his continuing drive to ensure immortality, placed the family locket of Salazar Slytherin after he had infused it with an eighth-size fragment of his soul. A locket that Regulus Black had been more than willing to sacrifice his life to destroy back in 1979 - right after he had met the Ghost Riders - but couldn't, entrusting it to his loyal house elf Kreacher before he fell into the lake, then infested with a double-company's worth of Inferi.

Had the entity Tom Riddle eventually became come back to the cave where he had hidden the third of his precious horcruxi, he would have not have recognised the place at all. Atop the new lighting lining the walls both day and night and the metal stairs installed by the Ghost Riders so they could have access to the cave from their manor house without needing to climb down cliffs - which they had built there after they had acquired the land in 1980 so they could have their own private residence away from the prying eyes of anyone in authority, normal or magical - the main entrance had been sealed off from the inside with melted lava rock. That ensured that anyone trying to approach the cave from the Channel coastline would just run into an unyielding wall. Even more so, the Inferi that had been placed into the lake as part of the multi-layer protection system Voldemort had put around his horcrux had been transformed.

Ironically, thanks to Regulus Black himself . . .

. . . not to mention the black crystals within his Dark Mark.

"Open."

The chamber then opened, revealing a girl of about eighteen or so - Regulus' age when he had "died" - with short-cut black hair and very pretty blue eyes, quite perky, very pleasing to the eye and well-rounded in all the right places. Gazing on her, Chrystal tried not to smirk as she remembered what the black crystals in Regulus' Dark Mark had ultimately done to the Inferi in the lake. Atop restoring them to true physical life, the crystals - she believed in some odd way of ensuring that their current host would have perfect and healthy mates to choose from when he elected to procreate and thus ensure natural immortality - had transformed them all into perfect female specimens of magical humanoids (that part of their DNA, Chrystal knew, had been copied from elements of Regulus' DNA, augmented by the DNA fragments of Tom Riddle's body which had been infused in the locket thanks to the process that allowed the horcrux to be created in the first place). And while all the Riders over the last decade had often came down to draw out one or several of these beings for whatever purpose struck their fancy (only to return them back when their use was ended), this would be the first time one of the former Inferi would be infused with a soul.

Or supposedly an eighth-sized fragment of one.

Chrystal summoned a towel from a nearby work desk into her hand, and then she proceeded to gently rub dry whatever fluids were over the awoken woman's body. Once that was done, she peered directly into the body's eyes, and then she frowned. "Glasses," she muttered as she drew out her spare pair from her jacket pocket. Concentrating on them for a moment, she then slipped the transformed pair over the body's eyes, allowing them to rest on her nose. "How's your vision?"

"I can see perfectly," the woman replied in a toneless, flat voice.

"Good. Come with me."

The woman turned as she followed Chrystal upstairs . . .

* * *

Islington, the Black home on Grimmauld Place . . .

"All elves were makes freaks by Master Ryūji?"

Hearing Kreacher's scathing comment, one of the human-shaped elves that had been summoned to Grimmauld Place to help with the necessary maintenance to restore it to a habitable home began to cry. "Grandfather is so MEAN!" she moaned before popping away.

Adara's eyebrow twitched. "_**KREACHER!**_"

Kreacher jolted on hearing that shrill cry, and then he immediately prostrated himself before his new mistress. "Kreacher is sorry, Mistress! Kreacher is . . .!"

"_**QUIET!**_" she snapped, which froze his voice in his throat. "Just for that, you WILL be put through the Elf Evolution when I speak personally to Miss Hirosaki sometime in the near-future!" she then declared, which made Kreacher suddenly turn white as his mind quickly interpreted his new mistress' intentions. "Now put yourself in your new bedroom and stay there until I order you to come out! MOVE!"

Wailing, he disappeared with a _pop!_ Watching this from her new place in the living room - Adara had used her position as the new Marchioness Black to move her grandmother's picture to a more "respectable" location - the image of Walburga Black nodded in approval. "He was always very loyal to me after my husband, brother and sister-in-law all died," she lamented. "Much that he does respect you as the new Lady Black, he's far too set in his ways to change overnight, granddaughter."

"Why would he consider all the human-form elves 'freaks?'" Mary Riel asked.

"Most likely because, despite their bonds of loyalty to their masters, they are far more independently-minded than what he's probably used to," Hogan Roper replied from his place in the main guest chair. Also in the living room of the Black home were Adara's maternal relatives and Albus Dumbledore. The house was currently ringing with construction as the human and elf members of the Most Loyal Volunteer Magical Constabulary of the Metropolis - as the volunteer policing force under Hogan Roper's charge was formally addressed as - continued to explore the long-abandoned home, striving to remove any traps and other such things that might come back to harm the new Marchioness Black in the future. Also present was a curse breaking team from Gringotts, a mix of goblins and humans, amongst them being Bill Weasley. "I would shudder to think of his reaction if he ever met Lilian Evans," the Magical Sheriff of London said. "As human-shaped elves come, Lilian is the most independent of them all."

"Who is she, Sir Xavier?" Walburga asked.

"A mental replica of Lily Potter that was created by Hogan's counterpart in Somerset around the time Voldemort attacked her family, Walburga," Albus replied. "She eventually became the stepmother of Lily's children, Harry and Rose."

The image of the former Marchioness Black then frowned. "Harry? James' son was Sirius' godson as I recall. I don't recall him ever having a daughter."

"Lily was pregnant with Rose when Riddle attacked them, Lady Black," Hogan replied. "While she couldn't be ultimately saved, she was kept alive long enough by a spell created by the Traveller so that Rose could be born hale and healthy."

Shock crossed Walburga's face. "The Dark Lord attacked a PREGNANT WOMAN?"

"She wasn't the only one attacked while in the family way, Walburga," Albus then advised. "So was Alice Longbottom, thanks in part to your niece Bellatrix."

Silence.

"I see," Walburga then stated as her jaw set in determination, though Albus was quick to see the shame and sadness in her dark grey eyes. "I assume, granddaughter, you'll be blasting Bellatrix off the family tapestry for that crime?"

Adara sighed. "No. She has a daughter herself, Cassiopeia. A daughter, so I've heard, who was saved in part by the same spell that saved Rose Potter." On hearing THAT, Walburga's eyes went very wide. "I will not do anything to Bellatrix that could come to badly affect her daughter." She then rose from her own chair. "But what I WILL do, Grandmother, is bring back the fragmented elements of this family into the fold once again. I don't have the power to override Lord Calvin's decision concerning Father, Uncle Regulus and Cousin Andromeda, but I can declare them back as being parts of the family again. Along with Great-granduncle Marius."

More silence.

"_**WHAT? HE'S A SQUIB! HOW COULD YOU BRING **_**HIM**_** BACK TO THE FAMILY?**_"

Adara glared at her grandmother's image. "Because he still has magical genes inside him, Grandmother! If I can get him married off before he dies, he's got a better-than-average chance of fathering a wizard or witch! If you and your relatives opened your eyes and saw how _inbreeding_ was destroying your children, you might have thought of that, got him married off when he was younger and you'd have more magical cousins!" A snort escaped her. "You know, I like the insult people here use when it comes to narrow-minded idiots like you: MUDBRAIN!" she spat. "Excuse me!"

With that, she stormed out of the living room for the kitchen. Walburga ducked the annoyed look sent her way by her granddaughter, and then she shuddered before fixing her eyes on John Riel. "Our grandchild is most passionate," she mused.

"She's been taught that any 'fresh bloods' that join the magical community are the guarantors of the future, Madame," the chief superintendant replied with a kind smile. "Very rarely in Canada do you encounter 'purebloods' in the British sense. Only the most fanatical types would ever subscribe to the genocidal vision people like Riddle espoused. When they show up in Canada, we put them down fast and hard."

"So you are a Magical Sheriff yourself, Chief Superintendant?"

Eyes turned to the picture of Walburga's great-grandfather, Phineas Nigellus Black, the thirty-second Marquess Black of Grimmauld and the latest Slytherin ever to hold the post of Headmaster of Hogwarts. "In a way, Headmaster Black," John replied. "In Canada, we had a separate system of Magical Constables of the Peace - our version of the Magical Shire Reeves - above and beyond the Aurors controlled by the Ministry of Magical Affairs." The Ministry of Magical Affairs - in French, _la Ministère d'Affaires Magiques_ - was the Canadian version of the Ministry of Magic. "The Magical Constables of the Peace were answerable to the Crown through their Governors General until 1920, when a Magical Royal Proclamation in Right of Canada united them with the Aurors into the modern 'W' Division after the Dominion Police and the Royal Northwest Mounted Police were united together as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police."

"And when Elder Ryūji gifted us the _Kokujun_ as he did the other Realms of the Empire in 1939, all those of inspector rank and higher in 'W' Division were given the right to use the _Kokujun_ in Canada to whatever extent was needed to enforce the laws, Headmaster," Monica added. "Just like Sir Xavier has that power here in London."

Phineas nodded, a grin crossing his face; he had learned of the _Kokujun_ when the shade of him currently in the headmaster's office at Hogwarts overheard Remus Lupin's words on the subject after Harry Potter's departure from Little Whinging in 1986. "Bright boy, that Ryūji! And his granddaughter's looking to be a chip off the old warding stone from what I've heard of her since she came." A shake of the head. "Pity she never got sorted into Slytherin. She's got ambition, that girl."

"What is she, Grandpapa?" Walburga asked; she had known her great-grandfather only through his portraits as he had died the year she was born, but she did love him.

"A Hufflepuff," Phineas replied. "The Sorting Hat was as confounded as much as to how to sort the poor girl as he was with young Harry Potter."

"Chikage's loyalty to family won the day," Albus added.

Walburga blinked, and then she nodded. "Ah . . . "

_**To be continued . . .**_


	20. Slytherin's Locket and Tamsin Gaunt

"So you know how to perform this ritual, Your Grace?"

"I had a friend of mine teach it to me back at the Institute when I learned what Her Majesty had in mind for me, Chief Cursebreaker Belltoe," Adara said as she gently brushed the enchanted ointment over the fingers of her left hand. Everyone was now standing in front of the magical tapestry that depicted the various members of the House of Black . . . not to mentioned the burned holes in the tapestry which indicated those members of the house that had been "blasted off" (in recent years by Walburga) on being disowned. "It's based on a spell the Mi'kmaq created to help them claim family bonds to the magical elements of the Beothuk that they helped rescue when the normal Beothuk were eventually hunted down and exterminated by white settlers on the Rock last century." Hearing that, the small group of goblins all scowled on hearing about that horrid point in normal history. "It ensured that the Beothuk would always live on."

"A good thing too, Your Grace," the chief curse breaker, an elderly goblin named Belltoe, stated as he watched Adara place the brush down, and then pick up a clean and sterile knife to draw the necessary blood to make the enchantment work.

Adara didn't wince as the red liquid began to flow from her palm to mix with the ointment, that making her hand glow. "Okay . . . " she whispered as she moved to the oldest side of the tapestry, allowing her hand to rest on the trunk depicted there.

She closed her eyes as she began to chant . . .

* * *

An island in the North Sea, east of the Shetlands . . .

"What . . .?"

Deep within his cell in Azkaban, a just-transformed black-haired, grey-eyed man blinked as he found himself gazing nowhere in particular, his mind and heart shuddering as the flood of magic from somewhere to the south and west seemed to overwhelm him.

"Mary . . . "

Blinking as the image of a very pretty Canadian witch flickered in his mind for a moment, Sirius Black then sank back to the floor as he felt a wave of cold approach, his mind immediately forcing him to transform into his grim body to avoid the deadly mental grasp of the soul-eaters that kept all within Azkaban contained . . .

* * *

A home in Petersfield, East Hampshire (north-northeast of Portsmouth) . . .

"AH!"

Looking up on hearing his wife cry out in surprise, Theodore Tonks stood and walked over to gently place his hands on Andromeda's shoulders. "What's wrong?" the magical architect asked as he gently rubbed the brown-haired woman's shoulders.

"I . . . " Andromeda then began before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Oh, Merlin . . . " she exhaled. "How is that possible . . .?"

"What?" he probed . . .

* * *

An apartment in Greenwich, close to the Roper home . . .

"Are you two alright?"

Now lying on the floor after they had passed out from the flood of magic that had surged through them from somewhere to the northwest, the two men - one a very elderly gentleman with a nearly bald head, the other a somewhat younger gentleman with grey-shot black hair; both of them had deep grey eyes - blinked as they found themselves looking around the space they had possessed for years.

"Wh-what was that . . .?" the younger of the two men demanded.

The older man blinked, and then he shuddered as his beloved sister came over to gently embrace him, his eyes filling with tears of joy. "Home . . . "

* * *

Islington, the Black home . . .

"It is done. The House of Black is whole once more."

The goblins gaped in awe as they watched the tree on the tapestry blossom with more branches and fruit. As Adara stepped back to gaze on the branches that were still living, she smiled on seeing that the branch leading to her father now sprouting an additional scroll marked with **MARY ANGELINA RIEL**, the name followed by the Royal Cypher and the crowned bison's head which formed the main part of the hat badge worn by members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with their uniforms. A branch growing from Sirius' branch led to a new "fruit" there marked **ALUDRA ADARA RIEL-BLACK**, her name followed by a tiny version of the Black Family crest (as the names of her paternal grandfather and the previous Marquess and Marchioness Blacks were so marked) behind the Royal Cypher. On other branches, new names also appeared - both direct descendants and the in-laws - such as **THEODORE EDWARD TONKS**, **NYMPHADORA ARETHUSA TONKS**, **RAVEN CHANDRA MALFOY** and **CASSIOPEIA URSULA LESTRANGE**. Seeing that, she nodded . . .

. . . before the front doorbell rang. "It appears you have visitors, Your Grace," Belltoe stated as he bowed. "May we receive them on your behalf?"

"Please do so, Chief Cursebreaker," she bade, nodding her thanks.

The goblin went over to the front door and opened it, revealing three people, a man and two women, clearly one single family. As Adara turned to gaze on the new arrivals, she then grinned on noting the wildly changing hair of the youngest of the group; she had been thoroughly briefed by Hogan Roper as to who were the other living members of her family. "Cousin Andromeda, Master Theodore, Cousin Nyphado- . . .!"

"HEY!" Guess who?

"_**NYMPHADORA!**_" Andromeda shrilled, causing the younger Tonks to instantly duck. "That's your HEAD OF HOUSE you're speaking to! Show respect!"

As the poor metamorphmagus quickly mumbled an apology for her verbal gaffe, Adara chuckled as she came over to gently grasp Andromeda's hand. "Please, all of you, come on inside," she said as she beckoned them all into the living room. "My mother, grandparents and Professor Dumbledore are here now. We'll get you some tea."

As laughter began to fill the house and the goblins turned back to their work, unseen by anyone, the branch leading to the "fruit" marked **REGULUS ARCTURUS BLACK** - which had a skull face on it, which always marked someone that was deceased - changed back to the image of a living face as five more scrolls began to appear underneath it, each emblazoned with a name: **MILDRED CASSANDRA ANDERSON**, **SHIRLEY DEBORAH ANDERSON**, **CHRYSTAL JAMIE TAGGART**, **HILARY LINDA CAIRN** and **SERENA EMILY CAIRN** . . .

* * *

On Grimmauld Place, sometime after dusk . . .

"So there it is."

Gazing at the magically hidden townhouse wedged between Numbers 11 and 13, Chrystal Taggart could only smirk as she allowed her metasenses to probe inside Number 12 and determine all who was inside there. Multiple magical humans along with a considerable number of goblins and a large amount of human-shaped house-elves . . .

. . . as well as one normal house-elf on the top floor of the building.

"There you are," she whispered before closing her eyes. «_Kreacher!_»

Silence.

Chrystal blinked, and then she sighed. Damn! She had totally forgotten how deep and absolute the servitude bond between a house elf and a human magical could be. No doubt, whoever had reopened the house had claimed possession of it . . . and thus, claimed the absolute loyalty of poor little Kreacher. And if that was true . . .

Wait . . .

«_Who . . . calls for Kreacher . . .?_»

Hearing that weak voice, Chrystal then smiled. «_You remember me, don't you?_»

More silence.

«_Miss . . . Chrystal . . .?_»

A nod. «_Yes, Kreacher. It's me. How are you?_»

Still more silence.

«_Kreacher has been bad . . . _»

Chrystal frowned. «_How so?_»

«_New Mistress . . . very mads at Kreacher . . . all the freak-elves . . . _»

«_'Freak' . . .? Oh! The human-form elves!_» A nod. «_Yeah, I can see how you'd panic on meeting someone like them._» A chuckle. «_Got sent to your room, eh?_»

«_Yes . . . but what is Miss Chrystal doings here . . .?_»

Chrystal sighed. «_The locket, Kreacher. Where's the locket?_»

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

A pained sob. «_Kreacher fails Master Regulus . . .!_»

Chrystal sighed as she projected a wave of sympathy and kindness towards the crying elf. «_No, you didn't fail Reg, Kreacher. You just didn't understand what sort of things that berk Riddle set up to keep his little treasures safe . . . _»

* * *

Inside the house . . .

"Did you feel that, Dione?"

One of the human-shaped elves that had been brought here by her master to help in the cleanup of the Black home perked, and then she blinked as she looked around. "Yes, I did feel that, Galene," Dione Rieu, the elder of a family of house elves that had been born and raised as human by one of Calvin Hobbes' closer friends, said as she looked around the house. "It felt like a wave of magic, but it wasn't . . . "

"Weird," her younger sister Galene breathed out . . .

* * *

Outside . . .

_Oh, shit!_ Chrystal spat to herself. _Didn't realise the human elves could detect me._ She then closed her eyes as she concentrated on the lone "normal" elf in Number 12. «_Kreacher, please. Reg wanted you to help deal with the locket. He's not mad at you at all. He's proud of you, Kreacher. I'm proud of you, too._»

A sniff. «_Miss Chrystal is so kinds to Kreacher . . . _»

«_I know. But I need the locket. Is it inside the house?_»

Another sniff. «_Yes._»

«_Can you bring it to me?_»

More sniffs. «_New Mistress tolds Kreacher to stays in his room . . . _»

Chrystal sighed. «_Kreacher, you are far more powerful than that. You can just teleport the locket into my hand. You don't need to physically leave the room to get the locket and give it to me. I'm on my motorbike on the north end of the street. You can sense where I am, can't you?_» On sensing a mental "nod" from the house elf, the raven-haired biker then smirked. «_Just reach out in your mind, Kreacher . . . _»

And sure enough, a muffled _pop!_ echoed close to Chrystal's head as something flashed gold in the light of nearby streetlamps. Her hand snatched the falling locket before it could drop to the street, and then she smirked as she gazed on it, quickly tracing the "S" shape of emeralds etched into the surface of the locket. She closed her eyes as she mentally reached into the locket to touch the dark thing within . . .

«_**WHO IS THERE?**_»

Chrystal chuckled. «_Your worst nightmare, Riddle._»

Silence, and then an angry roar. «_**I AM LORD VOLDEMORT, GIRL!**_»

«_Awwwwwww . . . _» the biker crooned. «_Is widdle Tommy mad?_»

«_**HOW DARE YOU?**_»

A humph. «_Well, I guess you don't want the body we made for you._»

Silence.

A touch of surprise . . . and hope. «_Body . . .?_»

«_Yep. All nice and healthy. And MAGICAL, too. Just like you'd want it!_»

More silence.

«_No . . . _» that voice then moaned as Chrystal sensed panic erupting from the heart of the soul - and yes, it was a COMPLETE soul, not just a mere one-eighth sized fragment of one! - within the locket. «_You're trying to trap me . . .!_»

«_Oh, so you LIKE the idea of being locked in some gaudy piece of jewellery?_»

Still more silence.

«_Why are you doing this?_»

A shrug. «_Why did you split your soul apart like you did?_»

«_I WANT TO LIVE!_»

«_You call THIS 'life?'_»

Even more silence.

«_You're a Muggle . . . _»

Chrystal sighed. He would have noticed THAT by now, wouldn't he? «_Yes, Tom, I'm a 'muggle' as you wizards here like to call people like me. What's wrong with that? Your dad was a muggle; so were all your friends at the orphanage, too!_»

Fear then turned to confusion. «_How . . .?_»

«_How what?_»

«_How do you know all THAT?_»

A smirk. «_I'm reading your thoughts. How else are we talking to each other?_»

And yet even MORE silence.

«_Impossible . . . _»

Chrystal blinked. «_What's impossible?_»

«_You! You doing THIS to me! How . . .?_»

A smile. «_The black crystals, Tom. You put them in Regulus Black's arm when you - the part of you that stayed in your body after you yourself got sheared off after you dropped that drifter - marked him part of your little club of 'death eaters.' The same black crystals that I've had in my body since I was born._»

Confusion then melted to surprised recognition. «_The black crystals . . .?_»

«_Yeah. Where'd you get yours?_»

«_Ryūji gave it to me . . . _»

An image appeared before Chrystal's mind's eye, showing an Oriental man of eighteen, with royal blue eyes and hair that was a curious shade of deep lavender-purple. «_Ooooh! Handsome boy . . . _» she purred. «_Friend of yours, Tom?_»

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

«_Friend . . . _»

She blinked. «_Tom?_»

«_What's a 'friend' . . .?_»

Sensing the deep pain and endless confusion in that single statement, Chrystal took a deep breath. _This fellow's really buggered-up inside_, she mused to herself before sighing. «_Look, Tom. Let's get somewhere away from prying eyes - especially of the magical type - so I can get you into a body you can use. Hang on._»

With that, she slipped the locket into her jacket pocket, and then gunned her mount's engine, turning the bike around as she drove off . . .

* * *

Inside Number 12 . . .

"Are you alright, my dear?"

Dione Rieu perked on hearing that curious question, and then she turned to gaze on Albus Dumbledore. "Master Albus . . . " she whispered before shaking her head.

"What's wrong?" the headmaster asked.

"I . . . " the human-shaped elf blinked before she sighed. "My sister and I felt something reach out towards this house from the north a few minutes ago, Master Albus," she then explained. "It felt like magic, but then again, it didn't . . . "

"'Felt like magic, yet it didn't?'"

Both turned as John Riel walked into the kitchen. "You recognise this, John?" Albus asked as he gazed intently at the Canadian officer.

A sigh. "Other house elves in Canada have been describing experiences like that more and more frequently over the last couple of decades, Albus. And not just Canada; these sorts of instances have occurred in Australia, New Zealand, Sudan, Kenya and many other places, too. Try as we might, we can't seem to detect what it is . . . "

The headmaster blinked as his own mind considered that, and then he hummed. "All places in the Commonwealth . . . " he mused before giving John a knowing look.

A nod. "Yes."

"Interesting. Is this being formally investigated?"

"In Canada, that's being done by Special Detachment 'M;' that's our equivalent of the Department of Mysteries here in Britain," John stated. "The Australian Magical Commonwealth Police's Special Mysteries Branch is helping out, along with the like elements in other nations." A chuckle. "With that amount of brainpower involved, you'd figure that we would have learned something by now, but . . . " A shrug.

A hum. "Interesting . . . "

"Could people be in danger?" Dione asked, a worried look crossing her face.

Albus and John looked at her, and then the latter smiled. "Hopefully not. But if you or any other elf senses something like that in the future, report it immediately to your local Magical Sheriff. Pass it on to all the elves across the country, young lady," the Canadian then advised as he held up a finger in emphasis. "We'll pass on what we know to Dame Wilma so she can get the right people here alerted to this."

A nod. "I understand, Master John."

* * *

In his new bedroom, a sleeping Kreacher was smiling.

And he had every right to be happy.

Master Regulus was ALIVE!

And while he had to stay silent about it even to his new Mistress - who knew WHAT the silly humans would think if they learned that somehow, someway, a man who had been confirmed magically as DEAD twelve years ago would turn up ALIVE! - he was more than comfortable with that request from the very nice and kind Miss Chrystal.

Even if he normally felt muggles were just bad . . .

Miss Chrystal was indeed a wonderful person.

And perhaps one day soon, Master Regulus would recognise that.

And perhaps . . .

Perhaps . . .

A sigh escaped the elderly elf as he allowed himself to rest, dreams of many children born from Master Regulus and Miss Chrystal dancing in his mind . . .

* * *

Near Wimbledon Common, Merton, London, Saturday 9 November, just before dawn . . .

A shocked gasp from the bedroom of the hotel suite caused Chrystal to blink as she looked at the open doorway leading into the bathroom as she was taking a shower. "Tammy?" she called out as she moved to shut off the water. "You okay?"

Silence.

_Crap . . .!_ she thought to herself as she reached for a towel to cover herself and then she walked into the bedroom to find her companion seated at the end of the bed, her own rider's jacket open and the T-shirt underneath it pulled up to expose a very perky set of feminine breasts for all to see. Gazing on the poor woman seated there, Chrystal was quick to note the look of stunned shock on the other woman's face. Which was understandable given what Tom Riddle had looked like at that age in his life . . . before the various "breaks" in his soul began to degrade his body into something that could barely be called "human." "You okay?" she asked as she moved over to sit beside the other woman, a hand reaching out to squeeze her shoulder in comfort.

More silence.

"I'm supposed to be a man . . . " the woman whispered.

A smirk. "Well, beggars can't be choosers in this case," Chrystal warned. "The lake where the other part of you placed the locket in was filled with a mixed bag of men and women zombies, but when Reg fell into the pool, the black crystals in his arm decided to transform them all into girls. Probably so he could have some hot babes to screw and have babies with." As the other woman stiffened, the rider shrugged. "Don't ask me. I've been trying to figure out how the black crystals work all my life and there are things about the stuff I can't even BEGIN to explain. None of us can."

The other woman blinked before she gazed at her. "And you've no idea whatsoever as to how you got the crystals put inside you?" she asked.

"Nope."

"So why help me?"

A sigh. "Reg felt that you - the part of you that was still in your old body when he met you back then - were going way too far when it came to going after the non-purebloods in your society," Chrystal explained. "Atop that, even if he did come from a traditionally 'dark' family, he certainly didn't approve of you splitting your soul apart like you did." A smirk. "Personally, since I'm not magical, I don't care either which way. Just as long as you leave me and mine alone, we're cool."

"So why rescue Regulus when he fell into the pool and was killed by the inferi?"

Chrystal smirked. "He didn't die all the way when he drowned. The crystals in his Mark saved his soul from going to wherever souls go to when the body finally dies, anchoring him to his body even as the crystals rejuvenated him and all the inferi in that lake." A shrug. "Besides, the other you just left the place there, so as far as we were concerned, you abandoned it. We claimed it. Finders-keepers."

Hearing that, the other woman blinked before a surprised smile then crossed her face, and then a delighted laugh escaped her. The rider gazed at her as the other woman let it out, and then she blinked before looking towards the doorway to their room. The other woman watched as the door locks were unlatched and the door itself opened, revealing a somewhat handsome boy with dirty red hair and dark hazel eyes, dressed casually. The tan on his skin and the way his facial features were arranged suggested East Indian ancestry. He had a package with him. "Hey, Chrys," he called out as he walked in, waving to the rider before he made a motion with his hand.

Watching this, the woman now bearing the soul "fragment" of Tom Riddle was quick to sense the pulse of power escaping his body to close and lock the door behind him. Noting that, she then adjusted her glasses, feeling her mage-sight power activate and scan his body. Sure enough, the dark streams of energy in his veins marking the presence of the same black crystals her current companion had were in him.

"This him?" he asked, clearly unbothered by the fact that Chrystal was practically naked and that the other woman's breasts were visible for all to see.

"Yeah, it's him, Fanish," Chrystal responded.

He then smiled as he held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Your Lordship. Fanish Panchal at your service." As the other woman took his hand and gave him a firm shake, he then handed her the package he had in his other hand. "And your new identity, all made and ready to go. As legitimate as you'd want it."

The woman blinked as she reached over to take the package in hand, and then she opened it to reveal a ladies' wallet inside. Opening that, she was quick to spot several pieces of identification, including a National Insurance Number card, a National Health Services card, a driving license with her picture on it, plus other bits and pieces that would be common for a normal girl living in England in the 1990s. Noting that, she then blinked on seeing the name. "'Tamsin Merope Gaunt?'"

"'Tamsin' is one of the female versions of 'Thomas.' It's used mostly down in Cornwall, which is where you're said to come from, which'll throw off people who might want to associate you with Voldemort," Fanish explained as Chrystal moved to dry herself and dress. "Since you were given the middle name 'Marvolo' after you granddad, we felt it was right to give you your mom's name as your middle name. And using your mom's family name should throw off most folks where you come from; too many people know about Tom _Riddle_ even if they haven't put the connection between him and Voldemort together." He shrugged. "From what we know of your mom, she was an okay lady given what right bastards her family were." He smirked. "That was inspired, by the way."

She perked. "What?"

"Offing your old man and his parents and blaming it on your dimwit of an uncle," he said as he summoned a chair so he could sit. "Given how much he and your granddad loved to put down your mom, he deserved everything you did to him."

Tamsin - in considering the new name she had been given, she was beginning to see the virtues of taking a new identity for herself since she was clearly going to have to remain close to these very strange muggles for the next while as she got her bearings back and learned about what the world of 1991 was about - blinked. "How do you know about my mother? All I was ever told about her was that my father abandoned her when he learned the truth about her being a witch! That's why I killed the bastard and his parents in '43 after I went there to find out the truth about Mother!"

"You only found out part of the truth."

Silence.

"What part?" Tamsin snapped.

"The part about why your dad abandoned your mom."

She blinked, and then turned to Chrystal. "How do you know this?"

The rider gazed at her, and then she sighed. "Get yourself straightened around," she then bade as she waved to the other woman's still-exposed breasts. "We're going out for a little ride. There's a couple things you need to see."

Tamsin blinked . . .

* * *

A half-hour later, on Wool Road . . .

"They tore the place down."

"Yeah," Chrystal said as she, Tamsin and Fanish stood near what had once been the front gate of Wool's Orphanage, which had been built close to Wimbledon Common, thus giving all the children there a place where they could go to and play when their guardians let them out of the compound for a breath of fresh air. The orphanage building was gone now, replaced by a small office block of modern design, which looked quite out of place considering the townhouses lining both sides of Wool Road from its southern terminus on Ernie Road to its dead end at the edge of Wimbledon Common. Seeing that, Tamsin could only smirk in delight; she had HATED the place and what it had meant to her, especially in the years after she had discovered the truth behind her special power and was brought into the wizarding world. "But we have to go this way for a bit," Chrystal bade as she beckoned her companions with her towards the Common.

Tamsin fell in between Chrystal and Fanish as they walked across the street and headed up past McKay and Dunstall Roads to a line of trees at the very end of Wool Road. There, they walked past the border onto the Common itself, and then Chrystal stopped as she pointed off to her right. "Look by that tree there."

Tamsin blinked, and then looked before her eyes went wide on seeing a white pyramid-shaped stone sticking out of the ground between two large trees. Her mage-sight then kicked in, quickly detecting a small amount of black crystal inside the stone, that attached to a line of dark energy that plunged deep into the underlying earth and rock below. Blinking as her mind instantly realised what this could be, she then gazed on her companions. "A ward stone? Ryūji put a ward stone here?"

"Not just here," Fanish explained as they walked closer to it. "All over the damned British Isles, including the Orkneys, the Shetlands, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man . . . all except for that hidden island to the east of the Shetlands."

Tamsin blinked. "Azkaban. That's where our kind's prison is located."

"What about the other prison down in the moors of Cornwall?" Chrystal asked.

The reborn witch jolted. "Gonebren? That was closed three hundred years ago!"

"Nope."

Tamsin turned to stare once more at Fanish. "What . . .?"

He pointed. "Look at the stone. Look what's written there."

She took that in, and then walked over to kneel before the stone in question, her eyes narrowing as she summoned her mage-sight to take in everything about the stone and what it was composed of. Sure enough - to normal onlookers, it was just a simple stone - the writing on each face became clear to her. "_Kokujun_ . . . " she read the kanji on the south face, and then she tilted her head to read the katakana and kanji combination on the east face. "_Surii-gun._" A blink. "Surrey County." She then looked back at her companions. "How many of these things have you found?"

"Usually about one every nine square kilometres; about every twenty-two hundred acres or about every three-and-a-half square miles," Fanish explained. "Always in places with high prāṇa flows deep in the ground. Ley lines. Your friend was Japanese; he would probably know them as 'dragon lines' or something like that."

The reborn witch blinked. "He always said places like Hogwarts were so powerful because of the ley lines that intersected where the castle was built . . . " she said before standing up and gazing on her companions. "What are these things for, anyway?"

A shrug. "We've never found out," Chrystal stated. "That's part of the reason we decided it was best to find some way to give you your life back. You understand magical stuff because you were trained in it. You know the guy who brought this stuff here. So we need help to put it all together so WE can understand why we are the way we are. And if it helps you get your life back together again . . . "

"And away from the berks who couldn't accept you because your dad was normal even if your mom's family was descent from Headmaster Slytherin . . . " Fanish added.

"So much the better," she said, shrugging.

Silence.

Tamsin blinked before she sighed. In all her experience - which really wasn't that much given that she had been separated from the rest of her soul back in 1948; to her, the intervening forty-three years had passed by virtually in the blink of an eye - she had only ONCE before experienced the feeling that was now surging through her heart. The weird feeling that only seemed to perk whenever she - as Tom Riddle - had been close to Ryūji Hirosaki during the 1938-39 school year at Hogwarts. Whenever the Traveller had taken the eager freshman aside to teach him some strange nuance of magic that eluded Tom's understanding, especially when his normal teachers seemed dumbfounded at his deep, probing questions. Whenever he told Tom about the strange and incredible beings he had to deal with back in his home dimension and in his "summer trips" to various other dimensions across Existence Itself. When he had helped comfort the frightened Tom in the wake of the Yule Scream of 1938. When he had then brushed off the freshman's outrage when the wizarding public accepted Armando Dippet as the hero of that incident, explaining it as simply his observance of _giri_ that forced him to take into consideration the feelings of the natives - ALL the natives - of THIS dimension when he elected to not take any credit for the deaths of thirteen sentient beings. And when he had given Tom the most wonderful present of all on Platform Nine-and-Three-quarters that summer day in 1939 when they had parted for the final time . . .

"My son . . . "

Tamsin breathed in. "Who . . .?"

She slowly turned as a misting figure began to emerge from a nearby tree, a figure that soon solidified into a ghost, one that she had never seen before . . .

. . . yet instantly knew.

"Mother . . . "

* * *

Hogwarts, the Vanished Wing, Sunday 10 November, after breakfast . . .

"How long has he been like this?"

"Quite some time, Chikage. Ever since we got back from Gonebren."

Hearing Daphne's words, Chikage shook her head before she slipped off her shoes and stepped into the dōjō, bowing to the spirit of the training hall before she walked over to sit down beside Harry, who was currently dressed in his aikidōgi and hakama, gazing nowhere in particular. He didn't look at her at first, though he did close his eyes. "I'm trying not to be angry," he then admitted as he then looked on her.

"Why are you angry at Adara?" the traveller then asked. "Was she the one who betrayed your parents' hiding place to Tom, Harry?"

He jolted, and then he shook his head. "No. Of course not. But . . . " He paused as he gritted his teeth, and then he breathed out. He did nothing as his friends all came into the dōjō and took seats around him. Hermione was quick to slip her arm around his in support while Aesup placed comforting hands on his shoulders. "Ever since I began living with Uncle Moony, he always told me how close Black was to Dad and Mom. Every time he talked about our parents, I could feel how much he missed them both. How happy Dad made him when he accepted his illness as just a 'monthly furry problem.' How Mom just didn't care at all about what he went through, how she tried to do her best to help find some way to heal him or make his transformation nights easier." A sniff. "He misses them so much. And . . . " A shake of the head. "And even now, he just can't understand WHY Black did that! Dad's family was there for him when he got disowned by his parents, even if Grand-uncle Calvin had stepped in to make sure Black's parents couldn't try to hurt him later on! And . . . he . . . "

Harry shook his head as Hermione and Aesup moved to embrace him. The others gazed sympathetically at him while Chikage nodded. "Ladies, your opinions if I may ask for them," the traveller asked. "What do you think of our soon-to-come schoolmate?"

"If she's raised to follow the normal Canadian way of looking at things, she's going to cause an even bigger revolution among the 'gentry' in our society that controlled contact with people like Achelois' mother, Jane's dad, Marian's dad, Brianna's brother - and especially Rose - would cause," Pansy noted.

"I don't understand," Hermione stated.

Pansy smirked. "Believe it or not, 'Mione, you would like being in Canada. Not to mention places like the States, Australia and New Zealand, not to mention other places British colonists settled into when they were busy making the 'empire where the sun never sets,'" she said as Daphne and Tracey both laughed. "There, you're being muggleborn wouldn't be seen as a crime but a symbol of hope. Mine and Daph's parents have done business in Canada over the years. What sickens people like Addie would be what her father came from: A family that frequently married close cousins in some warped attempt at 'preserving' their magic from the 'taint' of 'mudbloods.'"

"We can only guess that when she found out the truth about who her dad was and what his family was like, Addie must've been sick to her stomach," Daphne added.

"So what'll happen if Addie comes here?" Achelois asked as everyone focused on the other girls from Slytherin. "I don't know too much about how wizards and witches in Canada live even if Mom's friends with a lot of people in 'W' Division."

"She'll probably make everyone think the world's going to end, especially all those who normally associate the family name 'Black' with 'Dark magic,'" Pansy answered. "When she starts searching for a potential husband or wife, it'll be more than guaranteed that person will be muggleborn. And she'll no doubt do everything to welcome back any of the banished members of the Black family to the fold, especially those who were banished for being squibs or supporting those who stood up against Riddle and his idiots back in the last war." She then hummed. "When she gets here, we definitely have to get her introduced to Libera and her sisters."

"Get her support to overthrow the laws that banished families like the quints' and Hermione's from the Wizengamot, you mean?" Camellia noted.

"Definitely," Daphne affirmed. "She's head of a Noble and Most Ancient House. That's a four-seat vote in the Wizengamot when she gets her seat reactivated. And if the Blacks ally with the Potters, the Longbottoms and the Doges . . . "

"Not to mention the Runcorns and the Collinses," Pansy immediately added as she gazed on Achelois with a knowing look.

"That's six of the seven Noble and Most Ancient Houses all in alliance," Tracey finished. "If they form a block, the Malfoys and their allies will be pretty nicely isolated. Guaranteed that Pans' and Daph's families will join in."

"And that'll bring in most of the earldoms," Jane noted. "Heck, if that happened, guaranteed that Dad'll let Lynn reactivate our family seat."

Harry hummed. "When Rose and I got the chance to hear our parents' wills, Grand-uncle Ragnok advised we hold back about going into the Wizengamot. Part of me still thinks that's the smart thing to do. They just don't do anything."

"Do you think it'll stay that way, Harry?" Pansy asked.

"I certainly hope not."

Everyone turned. "Professor!" Hermione called out as Albus bowed to the spirit of the dōjō after slipping off his shoes and walking onto the floor.

"I apologise for intruding on you all," the headmaster stated as he gave Harry a knowing look. "How are you, Harry?" he gently asked.

A sigh. "Feeling mad, but feeling dumb, too, Grandpapa," he admitted.

A smile. "I can understand that, my boy. No matter what, we will find out the answers concerning the involvement of Adara's father in your parents' deaths one way or another," the older man assured him as the girls all grinned at him. "In the meantime, Adara has come here, accompanied by her great-grandaunt. She has asked for parlay."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"_**PARLAY?**_" everyone save Hermione and Chikage exclaimed.

Another nod. "Indeed so," Albus affirmed before he straightened himself, and then he bowed his head. "Marquess Harold, the Marchioness Adara of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black of Grimmauld has formally requested a meeting under the rules of parlay given the terrible events that cost your parents their lives ten years ago. If it is not too inconvenient to you, such can happen here with the walls of this castle. In the name of peace, the Noble House of Dumbledore of Exmoor offers themselves, their lands and their places of work to both your Houses so that the meeting under the laws of parlay may proceed forward without unnecessary and needless violence."

Harry blinked, and then he nodded. "Baron Albus, please convey my deepest and most profound respects to the Marchioness Adara of Black for her desire to meet with me under the laws of parlay. When does she desire to meet with me?"

Albus smiled as Pansy and Daphne gazed in appreciation at Harry for his knowledge concerning the sacred laws of parlay, which were codified (as Chikage knew) in various clauses in the Separation Act of 1692 (and thus, backed by the authority of the Crown thanks to the Magical Royal Proclamation of that very year which made the Separation Act the cornerstone of the magical constitution of the United Kingdom). "If it is not inconvenient to you, sir, will today after lunch be a good time? Given her present obligations at her current place of studies, the Marchioness Adara would prefer to return to Sibley and get enough sleep so she can be fresh for tomorrow's classes."

"I'll be ready. JANE!"

_Pop!_ "Master Harry! What is it?"

Eyes turned to gaze on Jane Porter, who had teleported herself to the genkan; Harry had described the activities in the dōjō in a previous letter to Rose after the current equipment had been installed in by the goblins during the first week of school (including the prohibition towards house elves porting into the dōjō unless in dire emergencies). "My formal robes please, Jane," Harry said as he stood up. "And have Mama and Uncle Moony come here, too. I've been asked to parlay by the Blacks."

Jane gaped, and then she nodded. "Right away, Master Harry!" _Pop!_

"Chikage?"

"What is it, Pansy?"

"Have you got your granddad's notes copied yet?"

The traveller blinked as everyone else all laughed . . .

* * *

The Great Hall, right after lunch . . .

"So what's this parlay all about, Draco?"

Draco sighed. "Since it was her father that betrayed Harry's and Rose's parents to the Dark Lord ten years ago, Adara probably feels she has no choice but to put out a peace feeler to Harry before she comes to school here," he explained to Sally-Anne as the members of the first year gathered around the lone table in the middle of the Great Hall. All of the students were in their formal robes, with Sally-Anne wearing her M.B.E., as formality was always demanded in a situation such as a parlay between two families that were either in blood feud or potentially sliding towards a blood feud. The walls were decorated with banners in the colours of both the Potter and Black families (red-and-white for the former, green-black-and-silver for the latter). "I heard this sort of thing died out in muggle society years ago, but it still happens in our society from time to time, especially in the wake of what the Dark Lord unleashed. If there's no declared peace, Harry could launch a blood feud on Adara."

The normal-borns gaped; all of them were surprised by Draco's words. "Why?" Kevin Entwhistle demanded. "It wasn't Adara's fault that Harry's and Rose's parents got killed because of her dad! She was born and raised in Canada all these years!"

"Still, her father's betrayal of the Marquess Harold's and the Dame Magistrate Rose's parents must be addressed, friend Kevin," Libera stated from beside Sally-Anne. "The late Marquess James' family opened their door to Lord Sirius when he broke away from his parents and gave him sanctuary when he was attending Hogwarts. For him to then turn around and allow the False Lord to kill Marquess James and Marchioness Lily after they had welcomed him into their hearth is a betrayal of the worst sort."

"Magically, Kevin, the Marchioness Adara has no choice but to find some way to atone for her father's actions," Kevin's housemate and Libera's sister Vesta added. "The Great Powers demand such, especially in matters like this. If there was no attempt, it will reflect terribly on Marchioness Adara and the still-living parts of her sire's family. Even those expelled from the family by her late grandparents."

The others all nodded in understanding; the Sunday edition of the _Daily Prophet_ had a front-page story on the just-revealed daughter of Sirius Black and her attendance at the trial of Melvin Kneen the previous Friday. "That's one of the things you guys are really lucky about," Justin Finch-Fletchley then mused.

Eyes locked on him, the purebloods all gaping in shock. "What do you mean, Justin?" Draco asked, clearly surprised by the normal-born's admission.

"How easy it is for you guys to accept how much magic influences your life," the native of Lincolnshire noted. "It's still hard for people like me to accept that."

"Do not fret, friend Justin," his housemate Fauna Meretrice stated with a smile. "You are doing quite well in accepting the influence of the Great Powers on your life."

Justin blushed as many of them laughed. "You okay, Draco?" Hermione asked.

Draco blinked, and then he nodded to one of the Black family banners. "I'm still surprised that Adara did THAT to the family crest, Hermione."

Everyone looked. "Sable, a chevron argent between two mullets argent and a crusader sword proper," Michael Corner then stated.

Eyes locked on him. "You're an expert in heraldry, Michael?" Hermione asked.

The raven-haired Ravenclaw nodded. "Yeah, 'Mione. My father's always been fascinated by heraldry. I even managed to get hold of the _Rotulus Noblis_ when I went shopping for my books in Diagon. It has all the proper crests for all the noble houses that have ever sat in the Wizengamot." Everyone grinned on hearing that; Michael was as much of a book reader as Hermione. "I can see what Draco's problem is with his mother's family crest: Adara changed the motto." As Draco gaped at him, Michael added, "The Black house motto originally was _Toujours Pur_. That's French for 'Always Pure.' But now it's been rendered in Latin. Blaise, you know what that means?"

"_Semper ad Meliora_," Blaise read, and then he translated it, "'Always Towards Better Things.' I didn't realise they taught Latin at the Institute."

"It's the third language I learned."

Eyes spun around as the doors to the Great Hall opened, revealing Adara Riel in formal family robes, her family crest on the silver-trimmed green cape draped over her shoulders. Immediately, Draco broke away from the others to walk up to her, his hands held out in formal greeting. "Well met, cousin," he said with a formal bow.

Adara smiled as she grasped his hands. "Well met, cousin Draco. The House of Black acknowledges their kin within the House of Malfoy and prays they are well."

Another bow to her. "You are too courteous to my poor family, cousin. Will you stand alone when you have your parlay with Marquess Harold?"

"Save for my great-grandaunt, I will. Your family, even if members did stand against the Marquess Harold's family during the recent rebellion launched by the arch-traitor Riddle, were not the direct cause of the deaths of his late parents a decade ago. Since the survivors of my family refused to do anything to acknowledge what happened, it falls unto me." Adara smiled. "I suspect, cousin Draco, that we have very different opinions as to what the future path of our society must take to survive and thrive. When I come here next year, I pray whatever disagreements that might arise from our divergent upbringings does not cause either of us permanent injury."

"I pray not as well, cousin Adara," he affirmed with a smile, and then he waved to the others by the wall. "Would you like the chance to meet everyone?"

"Certainly."

With that, Draco walked her over and introduced Adara to his housemates. When he got to Juno Meretrice, Adara then smiled as she formally grasped the other woman's hands. "Do I have the honour of addressing she who the Great Spirit will bless as the one and true Viscountess Meretrice of Wye?" the visitor from Canada asked with a smile.

Juno blushed. "No, Marchioness Black, I am the second-born of my family." With a nod to Draco, she then directed Adara to Libera. "My elder sister here is the proper Viscountess Meretrice even if the House of Lords Wizengamot does not recognise that."

Introductions were then made, and then Libera moved to introduce Adara to all of the Hufflepuffs before her sister Bellona took over to introduce the Gryffindors, and then Vesta came up to introduce all the Ravenclaws. By then, the doors to the Great Hall had opened to reveal a very elderly witch in formal robes. On seeing her, Draco then gaped before he bowed formally to her. "Great-grandaunt Cassiopeia!"

Everyone turned, and then they applauded as the elder living member of the House of Black came up to join her great-grandniece. Cassiopeia Shedar Black had graduated from Hogwarts as a Slytherin in 1933; she was in the same year as Cornelius Fudge and six years ahead of people like Glaston Tore, Wilma Skegness and Ryūji Hirosaki. While she had not been ostracised by the others in her family due to her desire to care for her younger brother Marius (he would have come to Hogwarts two years after his sister had he developed magic), she was seen by her relatives as a recluse. "My, what a friendly group you're about to become a part of, child," she said as her dark grey eyes twinkled with delight as she gazed fondly on her great-grandniece. She had nearly white hair styled in something one might expect from a lady of the Roaring Twenties. "Pity we never found out about you before Her Majesty learned of you. You could have come here right away instead of be forced to wait until next year."

Adara gazed at her. "«_Part of me still wishes that I hadn't been asked to come over to live here at all, despite who my father was_,»" she said in fluent Québécois French, which wasn't so different from the Parisian French Cassiopeia (not to mention people like Blaise and several others) was fluent in. "«_No offense, Grand-aunt._»"

"«_None taken._»" Back to English. "Where is Ryūji's granddaughter, Jane?" she asked as she gazed on Jane Roper. "When your father told me she had come . . . "

"She's with Harry right now, ma'am," Jane answered.

The doors then opened. "Marchioness Black?"

Adara turned, and then she moved to take her place at one end of the table as Albus came in, escorting Harry - currently in formal robes with his own family crest on his cape - and his party (Remus Lupin and Lilian Evans) into the Great Hall. Behind them was Chikage, now in the flowing robes of a Shintō shrine maiden (red hakama trousers with a white haori jacket over a white hiyoku undershirt), her white cross-embossed cape draped over her shoulders and an ōnusa in her hands. Seeing that, all hers and Harry's classmates all gaped, stunned by how beautiful the traveller appeared in the formal robes mandated by her ancient faith. As Adara nodded in appreciation and Cassiopeia tried not to gush on seeing her old schoolmate's granddaughter so adorned, Albus immediately took his place at the middle of the table while Harry placed himself at the opposite end from where Adara was seated, with his guardians behind him.

"Please, my friends, do be seated and be hearty," the headmaster then bade.

Harry and Adara sat down. Albus then nodded to Chikage, who moved immediately to sweep the air over the table with her ōnusa, chanting in very ancient Japanese as she called upon the Kami to bless this meeting between her friend's family and the family whose currently-imprisoned member had caused her friend's family such grievous pain a decade before. Watching this, everyone remained silent, though Hermione was quick to see the Meretrice sisters and the others from Rhosan Green had bowed their heads to add their own prayers to the Great Powers to lend their blessings to this meeting. Once that was done, Chikage placed herself to Albus' right rear, nodding as she allowed the ōnusa to rest on her shoulder. With that, Albus then gazed on Harry.

"You asked for parlay, Lady Adara," Harry then stated.

"I did, Lord Harold," Adara said, nodding. "You have been told the full history - as far as they know it - of what happened between my father, Sirius Black, and your parents and their other friends while they were here at Hogwarts and afterward?"

A nod. "I am aware of that."

"And you no doubt now see what was then believed about my father in the wake of the tragic deaths of your parents at the hands of the arch-traitor Thomas Riddle as an act of base blood-betrayal against your family by him in the wake of your family's welcoming him as an honoured guest in their home and hearth," Adara then noted.

"I do."

She took a deep breath. "I don't blame you for feeling that. Given the evidence - pardon me, the LACK of evidence considering the fact that my father was never given a formal trial for his actions! - that was discovered that day, I too would believe that my father was nothing more than an opportunistic parasite that simply wanted to press his own ends towards his family and used your parents as the means to pursue that end." Adara then sat back in her chair. "Since I only have my mother's memories of their fleeting liaison that resulted in my birth - not to mention the memories of the living members of my family - to call on to frame my own opinions of the man, I am tempted to publicly declare my father a Traitor to Magic for his actions and demand a proper trial before the Magical Privy Council at Gonebren to see an official accounting of the events ten years ago that led to your parents' deaths."

Harry blinked. In the crowd of onlookers, many of the purebloods were gaping at Adara's declaring her father as a "Traitor to Magic," which traditionally was seen as the worst form of treason imaginable. "You would go that far?" Harry asked.

"I would," Adara affirmed. "While I will admit there is a part of me that believes my father may be ultimately innocent of what happened - after all, such a sudden shift of behaviour after his spending over a decade publicly supporting the forces of the Light seems way too radical to me - there is the fact that there NEVER was a proper trial to give my father a chance to defend himself and explain his actions to his peers and society as a whole. Once I have properly reactivated my family's seat in the House of Lords Wizengamot, I intend to press for such a trial with both the Ministry and the Magical Privy Council as a whole. I hope your family - as they were and are the immediate victims of my father's actions - will support this."

Harry gazed at her, and then he sighed. "I would welcome such. And I'm sure, given my sister's position in the Magical Privy Council, such can happen." A quick glance to both Remus and Lilian earned him nods in agreement. "But it forces me to ask a question, Lady Adara: What ARE your intentions once you're in Britain full-time?"

"To do my best to save this society of ours from collapsing permanently in on itself," she responded, a smirk crossing her face. "To be frank, Harry, I find a lot of things about our so-called 'society' disagreeable. And I realise that there are going to be people who won't like what I want to do when I get here one damned bit. So be it. It's on their heads if their actions and inactions force more fresh-bloods and all those others who have ANY reason to turn away from what's seen as 'normal' to take the Loyal Oath and ensure the Ministry of Magic is rendered weaker and weaker until it literally has no legal leg to stand on anymore. You can see that as well as I."

A nod. "Agreed." Harry then took a deep breath as he gave her a warning look. "Addie, you can't ask me to trust you right away, you know."

"I know that," she affirmed with a nod. "I can guess Rose feels the same way."

"Yeah."

A nod, and then Adara rose. "Baron Albus, I thank you for your kind generosity in hosting this meeting," she said as she nodded thanks to the headmaster.

"It was my pleasure, my dear," Albus replied. "Tell me, will you be spending the Yule holidays here in Britain or remain in Canada?"

"I've no choice but to come back here, Professor," she said as she rolled her eyes. "You saw what condition poor Kreacher was in when I came to the house."

Albus winced. "I do understand that, my dear."

"Kreacher? He's still alive?"

Eyes locked on Chikage. "You know him?" Albus asked.

"Indeed I do," the traveller mused. "Adara's grandmother Walburga was something of a fan of Grandfather's during her early years here. He had the chance to meet Master Kreacher when he popped in to King's Cross Station during summer break at the end of his sixth year." Her eyes rolled as she gazed on Adara. "Tell me: Is Master Kreacher still mumbling and muttering away about 'mudbloods' and all that?"

"He is." Adara then smirked. "I was hoping that when I come here for the holidays, you'd be willing to come visit and help him go through the Elf Evolution."

Chikage blinked. "Adara, given his age . . . "

"He's being punished for letting the house practically go to rot after Walburga died six years ago, Chikage," Cassiopeia then stated. "Turning around and calling all the human-shaped elves that came when Jane's father called in the Constabulary of the Metropolis 'freak elves' because they were human and so powerful and all that."

The traveller's eyebrow arched. "I will only do it IF Master Kreacher agrees to do it and he's strong enough to survive, Grand-aunt. Grandfather's diary notes did state that Master Kreacher was quite elderly even in the 1930s." She raised a finger in warning as she turned to leave the Great Hall. "ONLY under those circumstances."

Everyone watched her go, many of the first years all grinning. "I still say she's an odd duck," Millicent then muttered to Daphne, Pansy and Tracey.

The girls from Slytherin laughed . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	21. The Icemaidens' Map

Knockturn Alley, near Borgin and Burkes, Monday 11 November, early morning . . .

"Truly interesting. And it was Ryūji that brought this material here?"

"Yes," Tamsin Gaunt stated as she sat across the work table from Nigel Scabior. The middle aged man was, on Ministry records, the owner of a pawn shop who paid his taxes diligently and had graduated from Hogwarts as a Slytherin in 1944, a year before Tom Riddle, thus making him one of many people from the time that had interacted with the Traveller himself. To those who were natural allies and supporters of the Dark, Nigel was a gifted and talented wand crafter who had learned his trade from none other than Oleg Gredenko, the Byelorussian wizard who, ironically, was better known amongst wizards on the Continent by just his patronymic, "Gregorovitch." Nigel was the man who crafted the wands for Raven Malfoy, Cassiopeia Lestrange, Ariel Goyle and Charlotte Crabbe several years before. "It has the power potential that would make any other magical core material you could get your hands on look quite tame in comparison."

"And you want your wand to have this as the core," Nigel stated as he gazed on the thin shard of black crystal that had been prepared ahead of time by Mildred Anderson. The leader of the Ghost Riders had driven Tamsin here from East Hampshire so the latter could finally get the one thing all wizards in Britain traditionally couldn't live without (though Chrystal Taggart had volunteered to help Tamsin recover her skill in wandless magic). "Well, I could be persuaded . . . "

Before Tamsin could consider what to do, footsteps heralded Mildred's approach to the work table, which made Nigel gaze up as the dark-eyed motorcycle rider seemed to glare at him with a look that even made Tamsin feel an Antarctic-level chill. Tamsin then blinked as the leader of the Ghost Riders placed a small bag on the table. "Yours to keep," she said as Nigel opened it, his jaw dropping in shock on seeing what was inside. "It can grow like anything living. Just needs oxygen. Works best when you place it in a garden between plants. Now, how fast can Tammy get her wand?"

Nigel blinked, and then he reached in to draw out one of the crystals, quickly noting the crimson hue. "What's the difference between the black crystals and the red ones?" he asked, surprised this muggle - he had been quick to sense what Mildred was when she walked into the shop with her witch companion - had access to this material.

"Same power output, but it doesn't dance the Milky Way in your brain if you ingest it into your body," Mildred stated, which made the wand crafter gape in shock at her. She then looked over at one wall, where there was a bookshelf. A hand came up as one of the books drifted off the shelf and sailed right into her hand, which nearly made Nigel fall out of his chair in disbelief and Tamsin smirk. "See what I mean?" Mildred asked before sending the book sailing back to where she had obtained it.

"Merlin's Beard . . . wandless magic from a MUGGLE?" he exclaimed.

"No, it's called 'telekinesis,'" she sarcastically noted before smirking. "Believe it or not, I took that special test that Kraut researcher came up with back in '82," Mildred then said. "I tested only 39 points on that scale. Just a normal 'muggle' girl." She gazed at Tamsin. "Had to use my telepathy to blank out the doctor's memories that did the test on me and the girls . . . "

"And you still could do THAT?" Nigel cried out.

"Don't you remember, Nigel? Ryūji always said there were non-magical 'metahumans' and 'paranormals' in his dimension," Tamsin stated. "Part of the reason he went on his Magical Quest in the first place was to understand different types of paranormal power beyond what we'd call 'magic.' Who knows what sort of things his granddaughter might be asked to deal with once she gets back home and takes Ryūji's place."

The wand crafter blinked, and then he sat back in his chair. When she had introduced herself, Tamsin claimed she was both a distant maternal relative of Tom Riddle and a distant relation to the late Alwaid Lestrange (father of Rodolphus and Rabastan and a peer of Voldemort's from the time of Grindelwald's War), ultimately descent of a part of the Gaunt family that had elected not to follow the self-destructive path of inbreeding that had been followed by Merope Gaunt's immediate ancestors. She reported that she herself had been home-schooled in magic by her parents, ignoring invitations to Hogwarts as her parents and grandparents had done due to the increasing influence of "mudbloods" on the teachings there (which Nigel had found himself automatically agreeing with). She also explained that on their first and only meeting sometime before the Dark Lord's fall at Godric's Hollow in 1981 (arranged by Rodolphus), Voldemort had agreed to keep the existence of Tamsin and her family (to say anything of their distant blood-kinship) a secret so it couldn't be exploited by the Ministry or - Merlin forbid! - that muggle-loving blood-traitor Dumbledore and his allies, especially the monsters that had so ruthlessly murdered good people like Daniel Rosier, Helena Gibbon and Lilith Mulciber.

Much to Tamsin's private relief and inner amusement, Nigel had accepted her words without question. Then again, he had little way of proving it; Alwaid had died in the raid on Romney Marsh in 1979, and both Rodolphus and Rabastan were confined for life in Azkaban. Atop that, he had not been willing enough to fight for the pureblood agenda - thus avoiding the risk of being killed by Voldemort to keep his connection to Tom Riddle secret – even if he was quite willing to help the cause no matter what. And despite the unfortunate "taint" in Tom Riddle's ancestry, Nigel Scabior had always accepted his housemate as the true Heir of Master Salazar, the man who would bring glory back to the wizarding world and banish away all the dirty mudblood ideals and beliefs that were smothering wizard-kind.

"Are there others like you?" he then asked the leader of the Ghost Riders.

"Right now, about fifty of us throughout Britain, with another thirty or so in Ireland," Mildred replied. "We're small but we know each other quite well." She then smirked, though Nigel was quick to sense the humour disappearing from her face as she added, "And if any of the hotheads who once rode with Tammy's cousin get it into their thick skulls to try to track us down and hurt us 'cause they can't stand the idea of 'muggles' possessing more power than they, we'll just come in and finish the job the old man in Scotland and the kid from over in Somerset started."

Nigel gulped as that ominous threat sank in. "Mildred, please. That's enough," Tamsin stated as she glared at her.

A snort escaped her as she turned to walk out of the shop. Nigel watched her go, and then he turned back to Tamsin. "Is she as powerful as she looks?"

A nod. "She is. She could mentally rip apart a giant from a hundred yards away and not even break a sweat doing it." As Nigel turned pale on hearing Tamsin's declaration, she added, "And you can't BEGIN to believe what sort of transfiguration and conjuration she's capable of . . . " A smirk. "Even if she and her friends call it 'psychokinesis' for some reason." A sigh. "Believe it or not, my whole family owes her group Life Debts." As the wand crafter winced in sympathy, the reborn Dark Lord grinned. "Don't worry, Nigel. If the muggles got wind of people like her, they'd come down on them even worse than they ever could to us. They actually admire our being separated politically and socially from the muggles; they ultimately want the same thing for themselves."

Nigel blinked as he considered that, and then he nodded. "Understandable, I guess. Are you cultivating them as allies?"

"Yes. So I don't need people buggering it up."

He smiled as he nodded in understanding. No passing on this information to anyone under any circumstances. "I don't envy you, My Lady," he whispered.

She made a dismissive wave with her hand as she took a deep breath. "How soon?"

"Give me a week. Any wood preference?"

"Yew."

Nigel smiled . . .

* * *

Cructan's, later . . .

"Damn! And this was coffee made by a muggle hockey player in CANADA?"

"Yeah, it's good stuff, ain't it?" Mildred mused as she and Tamsin sipped the delightful brew offered by Henry and Allana Cructan. "Soon as we pulled Reg out of the pool in the cave and we jump-started his heart, we decided it was best to learn all that we could about you wizards. Took us a few years of riding around to find the hidden villages and all that. Not just the 'normal' ones you know of but all the 'hidden' ones, too, like that place due east of where we live where a whole bunch of Reg's friends got their butts fried back in the spring of '79." A shrug. "Most wizards seem just content to live their lives in peace and quiet. Not be bugged by the outside world. And 'cause they don't seem to understand what's going on outside their little villages . . . " She smirked. "Makes me wonder why you wanted to take charge of this bunch in the first place, Tammy. What's so important about being the king or emperor of this pack of lazy wankers, anyway? Doubt you'd get much out of them in the long term."

Tamsin blinked as she considered that, and then she sighed. She should have been offended at the biker's questioning her life's goals, yet she didn't feel any anger towards Mildred. Odd. "Who thought up the name that you gave me?" she asked.

"Chrys did. Why?"

"I hated my name."

Mildred blinked. "'Tom Riddle?'"

A nod. "Yeah."

"Was that it?"

A sigh. "No, but it was the start of it. Believe me, I've never heard of the name 'Tamsin' before." She then gave the other girl a faint smile. "And by the way: Thank you." As Mildred's eyebrow arched, the reborn Dark Lord took a deep breath. "For giving me the chance to finally meet Mother." A sigh. "I just wish there was some way to bring her back to life. Give her a body like you gave me a body." Her lips turned down in a bit of a frown. "Even if it is a girl's body." As Mildred shrugged in a "What can you do about it?" way, Tamsin lifted the coffee to her lips so she could take a sip. "Are there other places like that cave that you or your friends found?"

"Other pits full of inferi?" the biker asked, and then she hummed. "Maybe one other place. Two others like us - they're fraternal twins; don't know their names - live near an old cemetery up in the Borders. They found a hidden manor house full of inferi; almost the same size as the group we've got." A shake of the head. "Don't think they've done anything with them, though. Even if we know who each other are, we don't normally interact with each other." A smirk. "Don't want to draw attention, especially after finding out about you wizards and this whole Ministry of Magic thing that runs your lives." A sigh. "And even now, we still don't know . . . "

"How you got the black crystals in your blood?"

"Yeah." She then leaned on the table. "So tell me about this guy."

Tamsin blinked. "Who?"

"Ryūji Hirosaki. What the hell was he doing jumping dimensions like that?"

The reborn witch smiled . . .

* * *

And November marched on . . .

In the wake of the trial of Melvin Kneen and the introduction of Adara Riel to the first-year class now attending Hogwarts, things settled down as they returned to the ever-increasing demands of schoolwork and extra-curricular studies, now topped with the start of the official school quidditch season. While Harry personally didn't care too much about the sport - which, even after everyone at school had met Rose (not to mention heard of her passionate desire to use the Lightning Axe back in September to destroy the school pitch) still upset some of his housemates - he did make it a point to attend the games placed by his house's teams. Also present were Hermione, Aesup and Brianna, who were polite but didn't demonstrate the insane enthusiasm for the sport that many others currently attending Hogwarts did virtually as second nature.

And during the first game played between Gryffindor and Slytherin . . .

* * *

The Quidditch pitch, Saturday 16 November, before lunch . . .

"Are you alright, Professor Snape?"

Severus perked on hearing Hermione's concerned question, and then he gave her a neutral smile as he limped over to sit down close to where Harry and his companions were currently relaxing, waiting for the game to start. "I thank you for your concern, Miss Granger, but I sprained my ankle last night. It's still mending."

Harry looked at him. «_Are you sure you're okay, Uncle?_» he asked as his and Severus' eyes locked for a moment, allowing a Legilimency bond to form.

The potions master tried not to smile. «_Actually almost had my leg bitten off by that damned cerebrus Hagrid owns!_» he mentally replied.

Harry took that in, and then he nodded. Everyone then perked as the smell of a strong tea filled their nostrils. "Good morning, everyone," a familiar voice called out as people watched Chikage approach, the traveller accompanied by Marian, Jane, Libera and Sally-Anne (the latter two holding hands, of course). Chikage had a thermos filled with steaming tea in her hand. "Blustery day for quidditch, isn't it?"

"It's good flying weather," Severus stated. "What type of tea is that anyway, Miss Hirosaki?" he then asked as the just-arrived Hufflepuffs took their seats.

"Good old fashioned darjeeling. The genuine article from West Bengal," Chikage stated, which instantly perked the interest of Parvati Patil (currently seated beside Lavender Brown to Harry's right). "I was in the mood for something strong."

"I figured that you being Japanese, you'd prefer _sencha_," Parvati noted.

Chikage smirked. "_Sencha_ is alright for normal occasions, but my private studies concerning my grandfather's notes have been getting pretty intense these last few weeks, Parvati. I've been staying up in my room studying far more."

"Not too much, I hope," Severus noted.

"No, Professor, not too much, but there have been times . . . ah!"

Everyone turned as two small flights of broom-riders emerged from the dressing rooms to form up on the ground to either side of Rolanda Hooch, who held her own mount close to her as she awaited their gathering at the centre circle. In the background, the voice of Lee Jordan - currently with Minerva McGonagall in the announcer's booth on the opposite side of the pitch from where Harry was sitting - carried on as both sides were introduced. Hearing Lee's introduction of the players on each side - which made Harry, Aesup, Brianna and Hermione moan in embarrassment as the older student's anti-Slytherin bias leaked through despite Minerva's sharp verbal rebuttals to make it clean and proper - Chikage could only shake her head as she sipped her tea . . .

. . . and then she perked on sensing an invisible _something_ wash past her from the direction of the opposite stands, which made her instantly tense as her dark eyes narrowed. Immediately, she glanced left to see that Severus, Harry, Aesup and Brianna had all perked up as well, their eyes narrow as they examined the opposite seats to see if they could try to find whoever had just sent out that badly-focused Legilimency probe. A quick glance to her left showed that Marian and Jane were also scanning the opposite seats; as they had been trained in the mind arts almost as long as Harry had been, the two Hufflepuff Icemaidens had been as quick as their friends, not to mention the potions master, in detecting that attempt at breaching their minds.

«_What's wrong, guys?_»

Chikage sipped her tea; that had been Achelois, currently seated beside Camellia among their housemates. _Achelois, someone's being rather rude with their mind-probes_, the traveller thought out; while she had yet to train herself in throwing out her thoughts, she had learned how to use the meson crystals embedded in her face (one over the bridge of her nose, one each under her eyes in the flesh of her cheeks) to tap into other people's telepathic communications, not to mention shield her own mind. Given how well-trained the Icemaidens and Harry had been with Legilimency thanks to Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore and Elaine Buckshire, Chikage didn't have to worry about repeating herself for the others' benefit. _Who's sitting with you?_

«_Just the normal crowd_,» Camellia replied. «_Everyone in the house here knows Uncle Severus is with the 'enemy' in hopes of taking house points away._»

«_I hope you DO do that, Uncle_,» Harry then moaned.

Severus perked. «_Why?_»

_I think, Professor, you best glance several rows down at your two o'clock_, Chikage then mused with a smirk before she sipped her tea.

The potions master perked, and then he looked down before he grinned. «_My thanks, Chikage_,» he said as he stood up and walked down the steps towards where Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan were now seated, both unfurling a banner made from bed sheets, emblazoned with the Gryffindor lion and the words **POTTER FOR PRESIDENT!**

Harry looked innocent as Severus' sharp voice then echoed over the pitch, declaring a fifty point deduction from Gryffindor for "Disrespect to your housemate's heartfelt desire not to be treated like some Muggle idol star!" As Parvati and Lavender screamed out on hearing the potions master's declaration, Hermione blinked before she gazed on the young man seated beside her. Seeing his lack of reaction, the normal-born girl hummed before she turned her attention back to the pitch as Severus stormed back to take his seat again just as Rolanda blew her whistle to start the game.

"And the quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor; what an excellent chaser she is! And quite attractive, too . . .!" Lee began the play-by-play.

"_**JORDAN!**_" Guess who?

A meek "Sorry, Professor!" caused a lot of laughs on both sides of the pitch.

"So who did they finally obtain to be the seeker, anyway?" Aesup wondered.

"Believe it or not, Nyx!" Harry replied.

Everyone gaped. "Miss Letum?" Severus demanded, and then he turned to gaze in the sky, quickly picking out the black-haired, dusky-skinned Rhosan Green native in her player's uniform, keeping high to the sky as the chasers and beaters fought it out over the quaffle and the bludgers; no doubt, the new seeker was staying out of the fray until the golden snitch made its appearance and she could make a grab at it. "She was able to be trained that quickly?" he then asked as he stared at Harry.

"She was a natural on the broom on her first day of lessons," Harry explained. "Pulled three Sloth Grip Rolls and a half-dozen Woollongong Shimmies when she got on her broom and it got out of control. When he saw what she did, that shut Oliver up IMMEDIATELY about getting me onto the team." He closed his eyes. "Thank God for that."

Severus hid a smirk as Parvati and Lavender sent disapproving looks towards their housemate (which he ignored). At that moment, the stands seemed to shake as heavy footfalls heralded the arrival of the school groundskeeper. "Budge up there! Move along!" Rubeus Hagrid said as he moved to take his seat close to Harry.

"Hello, Hagrid," Severus called over.

A smirk. "Ah, Severus! Hey, Harry, ladies!"

"Hello, Grand-uncle," Harry called back before he tensed as his eyes quickly detected a flash of gold zip past from left to right. "Hey! There's the snitch!"

Others had spotted it, too; a roar came up from both sides as Nyx and her opposite number from Slytherin, sixth-year Terrence Higgs, quickly dove into the fray to get at the sought-after prize. Watching the two flyers go at it, everyone gasped on seeing how Nyx was willing to do some pretty amazing things with her broom, especially when it came to flying it single-handedly with her whole body off the seat! "Cor blimey!" Hagrid gasped as the freshman seeker nearly let go of her broom after one tight hair-raising turn that prevented her from smashing through one of the towers ringing the pitch. "Who the devil taught the lass to fly like THAT?"

"I don't know! That's not anything Oliver ever taught us!" Ron Weasley - he was seated not so far from Lavender and Parvati - then said. "Damn! She's good!"

The game continued as both teams made scores with the quaffle while the beaters made sure the two bludgers didn't get close to hurting any of the other players. As time passed on, the golden snitch made its appearance several times, which gave the crowd a heart-stopping display of flying from both Terrance and Nyx. Watching this, Lee was going out of control as he ran on and on about how the freshman seeker from Gryffindor was practically re-writing the performance book for her position . . .

"_HARRY! LOOK OUT!_"

Just as Harry's ears had detected Severus' warning shout, a horrified cry of shock echoed through the crowd as a jet-black bolt of matter seemed to dive out of nowhere right at his particular spot in the Gryffindor stands.

"_**SEISHIN-HASAI HI-KŌSEN!**_"

A blast of green light caused everyone to scream.

_THUNK!_

Silence then fell.

"_**WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?**_" Lee cried out.

More silence.

"It's a projectile version of the soulsword, Lee!"

Eyes turned to gaze in shock and disbelief at Chikage, whose right hand now glowed with green energy as she lowered her arm after blasting the runaway bludger with a burst of _ki_ that had ripped away many of the magical charms on the iron ball, thus freeing it from flight and sending it crashing into the stands several rows below from where Hagrid had been seated. Fortunately, no one had been hit, though many of the people sitting nearby were badly shaken by what just happened. As people took a moment to absorb what had nearly crushed Harry, Rolanda soared over on her own broom, landing on the stands as she drew out her wand and uttered a detection charm spell as she moved to probed the bludger. A moment later, she stood up, and then blew on her whistle. "TIME!" she shouted out.

By then, most of the players on both sides had come down to hover close to where the flying instructor now stood. "Did someone bumph that bludger towards Harry?" Marcus Flint, the Slytherin team's captain, immediately demanded.

"Wasn't us!" Fred Weasley instantly protested as he and George - they were the Gryffindor beaters - exchanged a shocked look before gazing on their opposite numbers.

Eyes locked on both Peregrine Derrick and Lucian Bole, the Slytherin beaters, as they rapidly shook their heads. Before the players could start to argue about how a bludger could have malfunctioned and rocketed right at someone in the stands, a voice then called out from above, "I saw what happened, Broom Mistress Rolanda."

Everyone turned as Nyx came down with her broom to hover close to the Weasley brothers. "What did you see, Nyx?" Oliver Wood then demanded.

"The bludger had been beaten across the centre line by Master Peregrine and up into the sky," the young seeker reported as something seemed to nudge the sleeve of her overcoat, which instantly caught the eyes of her teammates. "It then froze in mid-air and flew straight at Lord Harold! No one was anywhere close to it when it did that!"

"You mean someone tried to KILL Potter?" Graham Montague, one of the Slytherin chasers, then demanded. "He doesn't even want to PLAY the game!"

"It appears so."

Still more silence.

"What did you find, Rolanda?" Severus asked as he and Hagrid came down to join their co-worker as the flying coach whispered a levitation spell.

"Something I've never seen before," Rolanda stated. "Fragments of energy are still there even after Chikage nearly cooked it with . . . what was it, again?"

"'Spirit-Breaker Fire-Light,' Madame Hooch," Chikage said as she came down to join the crowd, her mug of tea in hand. "It's one of the two main spirit-killing martial art forms I'm familiar with; it's a distance attack version of the soulsword as I just told Lee. I hope I didn't destroy the evidence with it."

Severus already had his wand out and was doing his own diagnostic charms with it. "No, Miss Hirosaki. There is enough energy here for Professor Flitwick to examine so he could determine what spell was used on this bludger. You need not fret." He then gazed with concern at the traveller. "But how about your _ki_ stores?"

Chikage smiled as she turned away. "Thanks to Kaede when she came to visit at the start of the month after the matter with the trolls, I won't be passing out anytime soon, Professor. I will be hungry, though, which I'm sure will make Mistress Lizzy and all the elves in the kitchens QUITE pleased when lunch comes around. Oh, Nyx . . . "

Nyx perked. "What is it, Lady Chikage?"

"Your left arm sleeve."

The seeker perked and then she tensed on sensing _something_ in there. She then reached under the cloth to draw out a familiar winged golden ball. On seeing THAT, all the Gryffindors grinned as Oliver began to laugh. "Damn, Nyx! Now you can do the Plumpton Pass, too? How the hell did you learn all these moves so fast?"

Nyx looked contrite. "I assure you, Master Oliver, it was NOT intentional!"

Hearing THAT, all the other quidditch players - both the Gryffindors and the Slytherins - gaped on hearing the young girl state that, and then they broke out in gales of laughter as the crowd all cheered. "Just like Roddy Plumpton himself!" Hagrid whooped as Lee called out the final score for the game: 160-40 for Gryffindor.

As Nyx handed the snitch back to Rolanda before she gladly took Terrance's hand as he congratulated her for a good game, Chikage smiled as she turned to walk away. As she went, Rolanda looked over, grinning. "Oh, Miss Hirosaki?" As the traveller stopped to gaze on her, the flying coach added, "Fifty points to Hufflepuff for some of the best reflexes I've ever seen, either ON the ground or IN the air!"

Chikage smiled as she bowed to the older woman. "On behalf of Hufflepuff, Madame Hooch, I accept the points awarded and your judgement on the matter."

More people whooped and laughed as she turned to head off . . .

* * *

Watching the traveller go, Severus Snape gladly applauded with the others around him, and then he gazed intently at Harry for a moment. The younger man tensed on feeling that, and then he slightly nodded before he stood to head away from the pitch, his female companions at his side as they went. Seeing that, he then sighed before he turned to gaze once more on the opposite stands, his dark eyes narrow.

He was quick to spot the flash of a dark purple turban in the crowd . . .

* * *

The Vanished Wing, just before supper . . .

"So why the HELL is someone trying to kill Harry?" Jane demanded.

It was a VERY angry group of Icemaidens (and friends) who had gathered in the southwest classroom after the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw reserve team game played after lunch (the latter team won 190-70) to discuss what had happened on the pitch earlier today. "It's hard to tell," Hermione then admitted. "I didn't even see the damned thing coming at Harry until Professor Snape called out. I'm glad he was there!"

"I'll make sure to tell Uncle Severus that, 'Mione," Camellia noted.

Laughter filled the room. "Jane has a point," Daphne stated. The four other Slytherin first year girls who had joined in on the Icemaidens' "defence club" back in mid-September had come with their housemates to the Vanished Wing when they saw Harry and his other friends head this way right after the game ended. "Harry's reasons for not playing quidditch are well-known and would be seen as quite acceptable given how much he cares for his sister. No reason for anyone in Slytherin to try to target him. And given how good Nyx is on a broom, there's no reason for anyone in Gryffindor to try to go after Harry, especially like THAT." She shook her head. "It's a mystery."

"Maybe not."

Eyes locked on Harry. "What do you mean, Harry?" Millicent asked.

Harry exchanged looks with the Icemaidens, and then he took a deep breath. "Can you girls keep a secret?" he then asked Pansy, Daphne, Tracey and Millicent.

"Of course," Pansy stated as the other girls nodded.

A deep sigh. "Remember at the start of the term? When Grandpapa said that the third-floor corridor on the east side of the residential wing was out of bounds?"

Everyone perked. "Yeah! Professor Dumbledore implied that the only ones who'd want to go there would be those who'd want to die a very painful death," Tracey said.

"What do you know?" Hermione asked.

"Did anyone ever read the _Daily Prophet_ article on the first of August this year? On Page Six?" Achelois then asked. "What happened at Gringotts?"

"What happened?" Daphne wondered. "All I remember that paper had was more news about Harry and Rose atop what happened at the Ministry when Chikage came."

"There was an attempted break-in at Gringotts, Daphne," Camellia stated.

"What was it?" Pansy wondered.

"The Philosopher's Stone."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"Oh, MERLIN!" Pansy exclaimed as she, her friends and Hermione all gaped in shock at Harry. "You mean . . .? What the hell is THAT thing doing HERE?"

"Most likely, to keep it away from Tom's currently non-corporeal fingers."

Heads turned as Chikage walked into the room to take her own seat on one of the couches there; as soon as they had all got access to this place, the people who were here most frequently had begun using their growing transfiguration skills to convert several of the beds into couches as well as a low coffee table so they could enjoy tea and snacks whenever they wanted to take breaks from studying in the classrooms or performing exercises in the dōjō. Beds not being used in the residential wing had been brought in by the house elves to replace them. "You know about this?" Tracey asked.

"I was told by Professor Dumbledore when he warned Harry and the others about the potential problems relocating Master Alchemist Flamel's property here might cause," the traveller explained before she sipped her tea. "Don't worry about it being a threat to the other students here. Atop all the traps the professors have laid out to keep the Stone protected, there's a virtual radar squadron's worth of monitoring charms in that corridor leading to where Fluffy is right now to alert the headmaster as to the presence of ANYONE that heads in that direction. I've added to it."

"What did you do?" Pansy asked.

A knowing smile. "Put a couple _ki_ charged meson crystals at the entrance to the corridor, not to mention crystals on each of Fluffy's collars. I put them there the weekend before Hallowe'en. The only people who've been there since that time were Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Snape, Fred and George Weasley, Genevieve Walker and Stewart Boardman."

"Who are they?" Hermione asked.

"Genny and Stew are fourth years in Slytherin," Camellia explained. "They're sort of our in-house equivalents to Fred and George."

"Pranksters?" Aesup wondered.

"Pretty good ones, too. And they do hold the twins with respect," Achelois stated before she rolled her eyes. "God only knows why!" As everyone all laughed - the Icemaidens had made their lack of respect for the Weasley twins known to their friends - she then added, "From what I can tell, they don't prank each other."

"But everyone else is fair game," Camellia added.

"We'll have to do something about them," Marian noted.

"True," Jane stated. "Hey, Chikage! How far did they get?"

"So far, the twins have got past the first three obstacles," Chikage reported. "Miss Walker and Mister Boardman have only penetrated past the first two. Still, if what Achelois just said about them is true, the chances are there that they might combine forces and get through all seven defence lines before they get the Stone."

"Why seven?" Hermione asked.

"Seven is seen as the most powerful magical number of all, 'Mione," Jane said.

The normal-born girl blinked, and then she nodded. "So how can we help protect this thing?" Pansy then asked. "It's easy to guess why Riddle would want the Stone; Master Flamel used it to create the Elixir of Life. That's how he and his wife are still alive these days even if they were born back in the fourteenth century."

A hum. "Hey, Mary? You got it?" Jane asked.

Marian smirked. "Never thought you'd ask, Jane."

"Got what?" Millicent asked.

The smile remained on Marian's face as she reached into her cardigan sweater and pulled out a folded sheet of parchment. Placing it on the table, she then unfolded it before she drew out her wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," she said as she tapped the sheet with her wand, and then she smiled as everyone gathered to watch.

"That is INCREDIBLE!" Tracey exclaimed.

"Merlin! No wonder your moms were so good at pranks!" Daphne added.

Everyone smiled as the parchment exploded with writing:

_**The Ladies Cheshire, Hunter, Falcon and Princess  
(With Assistance from Lord Black Fox)**  
In the Names of the Unfortunate and Defenceless  
Humbly Present . . .**  
The MAP of the ICEMAIDENS concerning HOGWARTS**_

"Whoa . . . " Pansy breathed out. "That's some spell work!"

"How do you work it?" Daphne asked.

Marian smiled as she gazed on her friends. "I am the daughter of the Lady Princess!" she said as she tapped the map with her wand.

The four Slytherins squealed in shock as more writing then appeared:

[[**Lady Princess expresses her delight in learning that her daughter is ready to stand in her mother's shoes and is ready to help protect those who can't protect themselves.**]]

[[**Lady Falcon also expresses her delight at her housemate's wonderful fortune at having a daughter and hopes that the Lady Princess' daughter is just as loyal as she is.**]]

[[**Lady Hunter would like to also express her delight at knowing her friend has a child and hopes that her friend's husband is a good man.**]]

[[**Lady Cheshire is smiling at her friend's good fortune and wonders if any daughter of her own would also be able to come to Hogwarts one of these days.**]]

Everyone all laughed. "They made it sentient?" Hermione asked.

"It took them about three years to make all the charms needed to allow the map to 'think' out its responses," Marian stated. "Show them, Harry."

Harry shrugged as he drew out his wand, and then he tapped the map with it. "I am the son of Mister Prongs and the Lady Tiger-Lily!" he called out.

The writing on the map disappeared, soon to be replaced:

[[**Lady Cheshire is stunned to hear that poor Lady Tiger-Lily actually married an arrogant git like Mister Prongs in the first place.**]]

[[**Lady Princess would like to express her hope that the son of Lady Tiger-Lily is not anything like the arsehole his father was.**]]

[[**Lady Falcon agrees with her friends and hopes that the son of Lady Tiger-Lily won't ever try to hurt someone who doesn't deserve to be hurt.**]]

[[**Lady Hunter would like to note to her friends that if the son of Lady Tiger-Lily is friends with the daughter of Lady Princess, he should be an alright lad.**]]

"Whoa!" Hermione gushed. "That's unbelievable!"

"What is unbelievable?"

Everyone turned to see Severus walk into the room, followed by Albus and Minerva. "The map the girls' mothers created, Professor Snape," Hermione said as she waved to it. "When would we learn something like THIS in Charms?"

Severus blinked, and then he laughed before he drew out his wand to tap the map with it. "Lord Black Fox extends his greetings to the Lady Icemaidens," he said.

The writing changed once more:

[[**Lady Cheshire is happy to see that Lord Black Fox is once again at Hogwarts.**]]

[[**Lady Hunter also expresses her happiness that our honoured housemate is at Hogwarts and wants to know what he's actually doing there.**]]

Severus laughed. "Head of Slytherin and Potions Master!" he proudly stated.

More writing:

[[**Lady Hunter is more than pleased to learn that Lord Black Fox is making sure all our brother and sister serpents behave themselves.**]]

[[**Lady Cheshire also is glad to hear that our honoured housemate is there to guide all the eager students in the wonderful ways of potions.**]]

[[**Lady Falcon is pleased to see that Lord Black Fox is making a wonderful life for himself and hopes that he has moved on from the sad days of his youth.**]]

[[**Lady Princess would like to slap the back of her housemate's head since she's now being an insensitive bitch and kindly remind her that our dear friend does not need to have such public reminders of that nature.**]]

Everyone laughed. "Oh, my! The girls were very good with their charms when they made this map, weren't they?" Albus exclaimed.

"They were that, Albus," Severus stated. "In some ways, they were even better than Harry's father and his friends, but there are some things this map can't do that the Marauders' Map can do. And vice-versa." A sigh. "Pity the damned thing went missing . . . "

"Any idea where it could be?" Harry wondered. "Uncle Moony's always wondered."

"Last we heard of it, Harry, Mister Filch had it in his safe box in his office," Minerva stated. "When he checked on it a year ago, it was gone."

"Pity," Chikage stated. "Can this map be improved on?"

"I am unaware of what the exact charms were that the girls' mothers used when they created this thing, Chikage," Severus stated.

"Wait a minute . . . "

Eyes locked on Daphne, who now had a far-away look on her face as her lower lip was curled in so she could bite down on it. "What, Daph?" Pansy asked.

The blonde girl then sighed. "Chikage, why don't you introduce yourself to the map?" As people stared in confusion at her, she added, "You're the granddaughter of the man who created the _Kokujun_, remember? Aunt Napaeae, Aunt Ronnie, Aunt Corrie and Aunt Diana all swore the Loyal Oath before they even came here! If they implanted part of their own personalities on the map, maybe you can make the map . . . "

"Link with the _Kokujun_!" Aesup exclaimed. "Daph, that's perfect!"

Chikage hummed. "Well, let's see . . . " she said as she drew out her wand and tapped it on the map. "The Lady Shadow, granddaughter of the Traveller, creator of Her Majesty's most noble Shield of Her Realm, greets the Lady Icemaidens."

The map seemed to pause for a moment as it seemed to think about what it had just sensed, and then it began to put out more words:

[[**Lady Cheshire is pleased to meet the Lady Shadow and wonders if the granddaughter of the Traveller had any problems coming to our dimension. Did she come through the Garden of the Galaxy or through Scarborough Fair?**]]

[[**Lady Princess sends her greetings to the granddaughter of the Traveller and expresses her surprise at the possibility of Lady Shadow wanting to prank someone, given how serious her grandfather was said to have lived his life while at school.**]]

[[**Lady Hunter notes that the Lady Shadow clearly appears to be friends to the daughter of Lady Princess and the son of Lady Tiger-Lily and hopes that she will consider taking them all to all the nice places she plans to go on her Magical Quest.**]]

[[**Lady Falcon is happy to know that the Lady Shadow has come to Hogwarts and hopes that the news has got to the Lady Falcon's father so the Traveller's granddaughter won't be alone while she's here on her Quest.**]]

"Ladies, a quick question: Can this map be linked to the _Kokujun_ ward stone currently located on the campus grounds?" Chikage then asked.

A pause, and then:

[[**No.**]]

"Damn . . .!" Pansy hissed out.

"Can this map be upgraded to allow such a possibility?" Chikage added.

A pause, and then:

[[**No.**]]

"Can this map display the list of charms and other magics used in its creation so that an improved version of this map can be created and linked to the _Kokujun_?"

A pause, and then:

[[**Only to those who have sworn the Loyal Oath to the Crown.**]]

Everyone perked, and then smiles crossed their faces . . .

* * *

Knockturn Alley, Monday 18 November, after breakfast . . .

"Nigel, please . . . I can't accept this!"

Nigel Scabior chuckled as he shook his head before he passed on the small bag of galleons into Tamsin Gaunt's hand. "Please, My Lady, I insist. I've been looking at the material your friend here gave me . . . " - Here, he nodded to Mildred Anderson, who was at her usual place by the front door of the wand crafter's shop - " . . . on my spare time. I even shared some of the crystals with a friend of mine in Gringotts; they paid top galleon for them, too! Even told me the name of this material, too."

"It has a name?" Mildred asked.

A nod. "Yes. 'Mesonium,' though it's most often called 'meson.' The name was revealed to the goblins when Miss Hirosaki went there to get at her grandfather's vault so she could buy all her school books for the term. Turns out Ryūji left some money behind to give his granddaughter a good chance at surviving at Hogwarts without much in the way of difficulties." Nigel then sighed. "Still, my friend gave me a warning about this stuff as well, especially the ebony version of it."

"What warning?" Tamsin asked.

"That if you allow it to influence you too much, you might go insane."

Mildred snorted. "It's just like I said before. All you need in that case, Mister Scabior, is a lot of discipline . . . or a good amount of hashish to smoke."

He perked. "'Hashish?'"

"It's a muggle street drug. Like any sort of Aquila."

Hearing that from Tamsin, he nodded in understanding . . .

* * *

Later . . .

"So now you feel like a real witch, don't you?"

Tamsin chuckled as she waved her new yew-and-ebony meson wand around, allowing a cascade of dark sparks to flow from the tip. "Damn straight I do!" the reborn Dark Lord noted before she moved to slip the wand into the holster now strapped to her left arm under her rider's jacket. "Been feeling naked without it . . . "

"Well, lass, if you want to feel naked . . . "

Tamsin jolted on hearing that harsh voice from somewhere behind her and to her right, and then she turned just as a wand was levelled at her face. "_**STUPEFY!**_"

The stun bolt lashed out, then bounced off an invisible shield just inches away from her head, spiralling harmlessly into the sky. Before Tamsin could yank out her wand to send a Cruciatus at the now-surprised drifter that had wanted to knock her out, a hand snared him by the throat and boosted him off the ground, cutting off his air as he found himself gazing into a pair of very dark and presently glowing eyes.

"You have a problem, sport?" Mildred then asked, a smile crossing her face.

He gasped, and then pointed his wand at her. "_**CRUCIO!**_"

The red beam lashed out to slam into Mildred's chest over her left breast, but it didn't do anything save elicit a wider smile from her. A smile, many of the onlookers were quick to realise, that had no humour in it whatsoever.

"Ouch," Mildred then said.

Gasps escaped many of the people around them at the sight of a _Muggle_ of all things resisting the Cruciatus Curse. As the drifter realised that, he then gasped as Mildred's fingers began to tighten on his throat, cutting off his attempt at calling out the incantation for the Killing Curse. After a moment, Mildred then relaxed as she lowered him to the ground. "You did not see two beautiful women pass by you."

The drifter blinked. "I didn't see two beautiful lasses pass by."

As more people watching this bizarre scene gaped at the hypnotic way he was speaking - several of them immediately hissing "Imperius!" to friends - and Tamsin stared in frank admiration at her new friend, the leader of the Ghost Riders added, "You didn't try to stun anyone, much less use the Cruciatus on anyone."

He blinked again. "I didn't hurt anyone."

"You were just minding your own business."

"Just minding my own business."

"Move along now."

"Good day."

With that, he headed off deeper into the Alley. As several people - no doubt friends or familiar acquaintances of the drifter - went after him, Mildred hummed before she noted everyone gazing at her. "I'm here all day, folks!" she then called out. "Tip all your house elves!" With a wave of her hand, she headed back towards Diagon, a muttering Tamsin heading after her as they returned to the Leaky Cauldron.

* * *

Watching them from his seat by the window of a small café close to the entrance of Diagon, a rather large man in a black cloak with the coat of arms of the old County of London under the Royal Cypher and atop crossed duelling wands watched them go . . .

* * *

By the archway into the Cauldron . . .

"What the bloody hell was THAT?"

Mildred blinked. "Haven't you ever seen _Star Wars_ before?"

Tamsin stopped. "_Star Wars_?" she asked in confusion.

The leader of the Ghost Riders blinked, and then she smirked before she waved her friend with her. "Movie night tonight," she declared . . .

* * *

East Hampshire, the Ghost Riders' home base, that evening . . .

"So what did you think of it?" Serena Cairn asked.

"It was INCREDIBLE!" Tamsin stated as the final credits to _Return of the Jedi_ rolled up the television screen; there was a video rental shop in Eastbourne and the Riders had rented all three episodes of the saga so that the reborn Dark Lord could see them all in succession. "But why on Earth was the first one 'Episode Four?'" she asked as Hilary rose to stop and rewind the tape. "What happened to the first three?"

"Haven't been made yet," Mildred answered. Atop the Riders, there was also Regulus Black, who was currently seated in a love chair with Chrystal Taggart. "According to what's being put out over the Internet now, George Lucas - he's the chap in America that made this series - when he was first conceiving this whole thing, he thought out something that would last over NINE separate films. This group . . . " - Here, she pointed to the P.A.L. V.H.S. cassette copies of _Star Wars_ and _The Empire Strikes Back_ - " . . . is the middle three of the group. We're not sure when he'll sit down and write the first three, much less the last three. If at all."

"There's this other fellow named Timothy Zahn that's writing a book set after the sixth movie," Chrystal then stated as she allowed Regulus to cuddle closer to her. "Just came out back in May; it's called _Heir to the Empire_, I think. Gets really deep about things that were never talked about in any of these movies." She thumbed to the east. "You can rent a copy over at the library here in town."

Tamsin blinked as she took that in, and then she nodded, blinking as her misty eyes began to fill with tears. "Well, I'll definitely take a look at it."

Shirley reached over to gently grasp her shoulder. "You okay?"

Tamsin sighed. "I never once considered having children." She nodded to the television. "I wonder what he went through when he found out about his son."

"Who? Darth Vader?" Mildred asked.

"Yes."

"Hard to say," Serena noted. "On the one hand, he was totally warped in the Dark Side of the Force. Like Obi-Wan told Luke; he was more machine than man when he was turned by the Emperor." A sigh. "Then again, something tells me there's part to this story that haven't been written out just yet. Maybe it'll come one day."

Tamsin blinked as she took that in, and then she chuckled. "That is SO odd."

"What is?" Shirley wondered.

"Me, the greatest Dark Lord in recent wizarding history, CRYING over a FICTIONAL character!" the raven-haired reborn witch stated as she moved to stand. "Well . . . "

As she tried to get back to her foot, her right heel caught the edge of the coaster rug set before the largest couch in the room and slipped away. Before she could catch herself, Tamsin fell back, hitting the back of her head HARD on Mildred's knee. "AAAAH!" both yelped out as stars suddenly exploded in the witch's eyes . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	22. Harry Potter and Thérèse Peverell

At that very moment, in a hidden classroom far to the north . . .

"_**OW!**_"

Heads snapped over, eyes locking on Harry as he bolted up from his chair, both his hands flying to the right side of his forehead. "Harry!" Aesup called out as she got up from her desk and moved to comfort her friend. "What's wrong?"

He moaned as the others swarmed around him. "Dunno . . . " he gasped as he moved to take his seat again. "Haven't felt that since the Welcoming Feast . . . "

The Icemaidens and Hermione all tensed. "When you felt someone try to probe your head?" Achelois asked. "That was the time your scar hurt, right?"

"Y-yeah!" he grunted as Chikage came over with a bottle full of pain-relieving potion. Without hesitation, he took the drink, and then gulped it down in one go. After a moment, the dizziness that had seized him began to fade. "Oh, man . . . "

"We should get him to Madame Pomfrey," Hermione automatically stated.

"I rather not move him too far," Chikage said as she gently reached over to probe various shiatsu points around Harry's scar. "Hermione, go to the fireplace at the north end of the main hall. Floo powder in the bowl to the east is for internal communications. Call Madame Pomfrey, then go to the academic wing to wait for her."

The normal-born girl nodded before she headed out of the room. "Let's get him to the southwest side so he can lie down," Camellia then proposed.

Everyone else moved to help Harry out of the room . . .

* * *

The Riders' home . . .

"What the hell . . .?"

"What is it, Tammy?"

Tamsin blinked. She had been moved into one of the lounge chairs as Serena went into the kitchen to get out some of their drug supplies so that the reborn Dark Lord could be given the equivalent of a mild pain suppressant through hashish to help her recover from the sharp blow with Mildred's knee bone. The five metahuman-powered normal girls all suspected that even if the amount of ebony meson inside Tamsin's body was a mere fraction of what any of the Riders had in each of their bodies, it still impacted all of her body's internal functions and she didn't need to totally lose control of her magic at this time. "Feel something . . . " she hissed out as she caressed the right side of her forehead. "Like a whole echo of distant voices deep inside my head . . . "

Hearing that, the others exchanged looks, and then Shirley knelt down before the witch, gently positioning her face so their eyes could lock together . . .

* * *

Hogwarts . . .

"How is he?"

"We moved him here from the northwest side to give him a chance to rest before moving him elsewhere," Chikage said as Poppy Pomfrey, who had just been escorted into the Vanished Wing by Hermione, took a seat beside the bed Harry was now on, her wand out as she began whispering diagnostic spells. "He just complained of a very sharp pain, even stronger than what he experienced back at the Welcoming Feast."

"Why in Merlin's name didn't he report that?" the healer demanded as Albus Dumbledore then came into the room from the main hallway, the headmaster followed immediately by Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape and Filius Flitwick.

"He did report it to me when he got the chance, Poppy," Albus explained as he drew out his own wand to help with the scans. "It was a very short and minor flash of pain; his Occlumency shields are quite strong. He actually first believed it was either Severus or myself testing him in a situation such as the Welcoming Feast."

Poppy gaped. "How long have you been training him?"

"Shortly after he began living with his sister," Severus stated.

"As that was the same time we were discovering all the interesting things about Rose and her power level, we felt then that Tom's learning of the results of Glaston's use of _Desidero Infantis_ had to be prevented as much as possible," Albus added.

The healer considered that, and then she nodded, turning back to scan the scar with her wand. "Well, it appears to be very dark magic in the middle of that wound," she reported as she moved to magically block the nerves around the wound to prevent the transmission of energy from the scar right into Harry's brain. "Hamilton passed on all his observation notes to me after Harry came here so I knew what I was dealing with in case he became a guest of mine." She then relaxed before she blinked. "Wait . . . "

"What is it?" Filius demanded.

Poppy blinked. "Can you cast the detection charms for the Neuwied Test?"

The charms professor blinked on hearing that, and then he drew out his wand and began to make probes into Harry's body. A moment later, a ghostly parchment appeared. Seeing the results, the diminutive ex-dueller gaped before he grinned. "My word! Two hundred points even! Mister Potter's magic is improving quite a bit!"

"Now cast it on the scar."

Silence.

"What?" Filius demanded. "Poppy, that's not . . .!"

"Just do it!" Poppy insisted.

The head of Ravenclaw blinked, and then he positioned himself for a clear shot at Harry's scar. The wand came out and he focused the energy directly into the wound. A moment later, another ghostly parchment then appeared. "Oh, my . . . " he breathed out. "That's not possible . . . a hundred and eighty-three points . . .?"

"TWO separate Neuwied Test readings?" Minerva gasped.

Severus gaped. "But that means . . . "

"The scar's ALIVE?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Oh, _Hwanggung-nim_. . .!"

Eyes locked on Aesup. "Whatever is the matter, my dear?" Albus demanded.

The Korean witch was staring in disbelief at her now-sleeping friend. "I don't believe it . . . " she whispered. "Riddle tried to turn Harry into a _nŏksbae_?"

"What's . . .?" Brittany began before she blinked as her mind quickly translated the rather unfamiliar Korean word into English. "A 'soul boat?'"

"_Ne_ . . . " Aesup breathed out before she moved to sit down beside Harry's bed opposite from where Poppy and Filius were. "It's an ancient practice that's been done to one extent or another since the time of Tan'gun-wanggŏm four thousand years ago. A powerful sorcerer near the end of his or her life allows part of his or her soul to be cut away from the remainder of it so she or he could leave something behind to be passed to the next generation . . . " She didn't see the horrified looks on Minerva's and Poppy's faces, the disgust crossing Filius' and Severus' faces and the stunned, putting-it-all-together look appearing on Albus' face as she faced her other friends. "It was used back in the old days by both those who would be seen as 'light' and 'dark' here in Britain as a way of ensuring something would always live on from the one who gave the Gift of the _Nŏksbae_ to whomever he or she deemed worthy to receive it. For those who wanted to leave something behind as a gift to a friend or a loved one, it was seen as a final endearing gift before you passed on into Heaven . . . " She then shook her head. "But I don't think this was what that _pyŏngshin_ meant for Harry!"

"Aesup! Don't swear!" Hermione snapped.

Aesup gave the normal-born girl an annoyed look. "To SPLIT AWAY a fragment of a soul apart like THAT is hideous!" Poppy hissed. "How could something like THAT be seen as NOBLE?"

"Because in the traditional ways of old Korea, Madame, the Gift of the _Nŏksbae_ was seen as the last act one does before one leaves one's body for the next life," Chikage then stated. "That tradition existed in the Korea of my dimension for a long time as well until it fell out of favour as increased knowledge trading between Earth and the _Mundus Magicus_ allowed the concept to be replaced by soul-copying."

"'Soul-copying?'" Filius asked.

"An expanded version of what one does to create a magical portrait, Professor," the traveller stated. "The portrait is a copy of one's thoughts and feelings at the time it was created. The _Nŏkspotchep'um_ - the Soul Replica - was an enhancement of the idea." She stared at Albus. "But I don't believe that's what Professor Dumbledore now believes Tom did to Harry when he tried to kill him ten years ago. Is it?"

Eyes locked on the headmaster, which made the elderly man visibly wince. "Albus?" Minerva asked, her voice rising in threat as she crossed her arms.

A deep sigh. "I have . . . " He then shook his head. "I have always wondered how it was possible that Tom survived that night in Godric's Hollow." Albus pointed to Severus. "As Severus and all of Tom's other direct supporters could attest, when he 'died,' the Dark Mark never fully faded from their arms. A spell like that can only vanish when the caster himself fully passes into the next life." He shook his head. "Oh, Tom . . . of all the things you could have done to yourself, you did THAT . . .?"

"Did WHAT, Albus?" Severus demanded.

"Albus, I need to know this so I can help Harry!" Poppy insisted.

"Albus, please!" Filius added. "We'll take Vows of Silence if we have . . .!"

"He created a horcrux."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"It can't be that."

Eyes locked on Aesup, who was shaking her head. "What do you mean?" Albus asked, shocked that the young woman would have knowledge of something like THAT.

The Korean witch pointed to Harry. "_Kyojang-sŏnsaengnim_, if what _Appa_ once told me about horcruxi is real, there's no WAY that whatever-it-is in Harry's head now could be one!" she stated. "If this was the **first** one Riddle created, why is it the Neuwied Test _Flitwick-sŏnsaengnim_ just did on the scar came out with such a high reading? I always heard Riddle was quite powerful, but an even fifty-fifty soul-split would have seen to it that his total magical level would have been cut right in half."

Everyone blinked. "How does one create such a thing?" Filius asked.

"The trigger to allow such a soul-split to occur is an act of cold-blooded murder. Along with a complex ritual that would allow one's soul to be totally cleaved in half, the part to be made a horcrux then placed in a container to hold it."

Eyes locked once more on Albus. "Oh, Merlin . . .!" Marian breathed out.

The headmaster nodded wearily . . .

* * *

The Riders' home . . .

"Oh, you IDIOT . . .!"

"What?" Mildred demanded.

Tamsin was now quite pale as her mind ran through what she had just overheard spoken by the people currently around what she had no choice but to believe was the child that was said to have struck down her other-self ten years before. "A living horcrux . . .?" she whispered. "That's NEVER to be done . . . never . . .!"

"Why never?" Shirley asked; the Riders had all telepathically "listened" in to what the reborn Dark Lord was mentally "hearing" from Hogwarts.

A shudder. "Because making horcruxi out of a living being would guarantee that the person left behind would discorporate into a bodiless wraith, Shirley," Tamsin said. "That Korean girl has the rights of it; I learned about creating _nŏksbae_ from some exiled Korean wizards who moved to Britain after Japan conquered their country at the start of the century." She closed her head as she shook it. "Blithering idiot . . . how many did you create after you created me? You stupid, blind FOOL . . .!"

Her body suddenly flared with energy . . .

* * *

Hogwarts . . .

"Who're . . . the pretty girls . . .?"

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"Harry?" Hermione eeped as everyone noted his eyes opening.

"What are you seeing, Harry?" Severus demanded.

The Boy-Who-Lived blinked several times, and then he shook his head. "A whole bunch of women . . . " he stated. "Five . . .? No, six!" His eyes then narrowed. "And there's a man there, too . . . " He blinked again. "It can't be . . . "

"Who do you see, Harry?" Minerva demanded.

He gazed up at his head-of-house. "It's Addie's uncle, Aunt Minerva." As the older people there all gaped in shock, he added, "It's Regulus Black!"

Jaws dropped . . .

* * *

The Riders' home . . .

"Oh, damn . . . "

Eyes locked on Tamsin. "What is it?" Serena asked.

"Harry can sense me now!" the witch warned. "He recognises Regulus!"

The Riders all blinked before they peered more intently into the reborn Dark Lord's mind, and then Chrystal sighed. "I'll handle this."

She let go of Regulus as she reached over to touch Tamsin's head . . .

* * *

Hogwarts . . .

"OH, MY HEAVENS!"

Everyone jolted on hearing Poppy's scream, and then they all gaped as the head of a woman just above the age of the oldest of the seventh years suddenly emerged from WITHIN Harry's body at the level of his waist. As many of the younger people quickly backed off, the adults instantly drew their wands as the newcomer's body fully emerged and she casually "stepped" out of Harry to place herself on the floor.

Before Severus could snap off a stunning spell, a barked "_**WAIT!**_" from Chikage made everyone - including the newcomer - stare in shock at the traveller. "That's an astral projection, Professor," she warned as she indicated the newcomer. "She can't be affected by magic. Your spell will just hurt Madame Pomfrey."

Silence.

"'Astral projection?'" Hermione exclaimed.

"She's a telepath."

More silence.

"What's that?" Minerva asked.

"That's what normals would address a Legilimency Master as," Brianna stated.

"Chikage, are you saying that this woman is a metahuman? Just like all the metahumans and paranormals your grandfather spoke of from your world?"

Eyes locked on Albus, and then turned back to the newcomer, who had moved to "sit" on the bed beside Harry, who was slowly sitting up to gaze wide-eyed at her. "Most likely," Chikage stated as she walked over to gaze intently at her. "I would assume, miss, you have other powers beyond telepathy and astral projection."

"I do. Telekinesis and psychokinesis, too." The newcomer then shrugged, an impish grin crossing her face, which made all the magicals gazing at her now slightly relax, though the adults were still on guard with their wands. "Next week, it might be different. I haven't decided yet." She then hummed as she stared at the adults. "You're Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster," she said as she pointed at the eldest of the people present. "You're Minerva McGonagall, the den-mother of the Lions and you teach magical psychokinesis," she then said as she indicated the transfiguration mistress before staring at the resident charms master. "You're Filius Flitwick, den-daddy of the Ravens and you teach projectile magic." To Severus: "Severus Snape, den-daddy of the Snakes and you teach magical chemistry." Poppy: "Poppy Pomfrey, school nurse and resident first-aid specialist." And then to Harry: "And you're the kid everyone likes to credit for taking down the Big Bad Dark Lord ten years ago, right?" She then gazed intently at him. "Hey, Harry! How do people think you did that, anyway? You were . . . what? Two?" An exaggerated shrug. "Oh, I get it, now! You slapped him with a wet nappy!" As people gaped in shock at her while the Icemaidens all began to grin and Chikage tried not to lose control of herself, she then leaned over to stage-whisper into Harry's ear, "Personally, I really liked the story of you being the Big Bad Wolf! You know, huffing and puffing before you blew old Tommy-boy right out the door!"

Harry gaped in shock at her before he smirked, and then he fell back on the bed laughing. That did it for Chikage and the other Icemaidens; they all collapsed to the floor as howls and screams escaped them. By then, the joke had sunk in with the adults, and then they all began to laugh. After a minute of that, Albus stared at her. "Oh, my heavens! I've not laughed that much in so long . . .!" He then put his wand away. "I do believe, miss, you have us all at a disadvantage."

The newcomer shrugged. "I'm one of Reg Black's girlfriends, Chrystal Taggart."

Silence.

"But Regulus is dead!"

Chrystal turned to Severus. "Yeah, he died. He got better, though."

"HOW?" Minerva exclaimed. "Unless he made . . .?"

"A horcrux?"

Everyone turned back to Chrystal. "I pray not!" Albus exclaimed.

"Oh, relax! He didn't," the biker stated. "But he got saved, believe it or not, thanks to his old boss." Her eyes then fell on Severus. "And yours, too?"

"For a brief time. To my everlasting regret," the potions master stated.

Hermione stared wide-eyed at him as Harry and his friends gave him sympathetic looks. "At least you didn't have to go through what Reg did," Chrystal said.

"How exactly did the poor boy survive?" Filius asked.

Chrystal smiled knowingly before she stared at Chikage. "Your granddad ever tell you about Tom?" she asked as she crossed her arms.

"Some things. Others have been blocked from my mind," the traveller admitted.

"Why?" Poppy demanded as Filius gaped at her.

A smirk. "Madame Pomfrey, I come from the year _**2030**_ in my dimension. To me, the events your counterparts went through there happened FORTY years ago."

"Some sort of Temporal Prime Directive thing, right?" Chrystal asked.

"Unfortunately. My sponsors refer to it as 'Directive Fifteen.' What of Grandfather?"

Chrystal sighed. "Did you know the Dark Mark was made with _ebony meson_?"

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"What?" the traveller eeped, her skin turning VERY pale.

"It's true," the rider stated. "Your granddad gave Tom a nice-sized rock of the stuff - it was the size of one of your galleon coins - at King's Cross Station before he finally left this place to go back home in '39. According to Tammy - she's the part of Tom we were able to help get back into a new body; we called her 'Tamsin Merope Gaunt' in her mother's honour - Ryūji said he got it from the man who helped him come here in the first place." A confused look then crossed her face. "Some guy who was _five thousand years old_ when your granddad first came here in '32."

Jaws dropped. "Five THOUSAND years old . . .?" Filius squeaked in shock.

"Master Hosan . . . "

Eyes locked once more on Chikage. "You know of this man, Chikage?" Albus asked.

The traveller blinked before she walked over to sit down on a nearby couch, her skin turning exceptionally pale as her eyes remained wide with shock and disbelief. After a moment, she drew her wand and aimed it at Severus. "_Mesonium Noir Revelio!_"

A bolt of energy lashed out to harmlessly strike Severus on his left arm, which allowed a small puff of magical smoke to appear. "Oh, my word . . . " Albus breathed out; he knew that one of Chikage's private study projects was to create a magical detection spell to scent out meson. The hoped-for planned result would be parallel to how one did the spells for the Neuwied Test; the traveller still had some way to go before she perfected the enchantments. "Could that have been from Ryūji . . .?"

Chikage blinked before she closed her eyes. "It had to be."

"Who's this Master Hosan, Chikage?" Achelois asked.

A sigh. "That, Achelois, is a VERY long story . . . "

* * *

The Vanished Wing, Tuesday 19 November, just after midnight . . .

"So this Master Hosan was somehow infected with ebony meson when he was very young . . . yet unlike other such victims on your world, he never succumbed to the more primal emotional urges exposure to that material forces on others? And given the power that infusion gave him, he was frozen as a young adult for five millennia, just like these other immortals that fight this odd 'game' in your dimension with swords?"

"Exactly," Chikage stated as she tapped controls on her PADD to dispel the hologram of Hirosuke Hosan - who appeared to all the people who had seen his image as a middle-aged Japanese man with indistinguishable features yet radiated a serene knowledge from his dark eyes that made even Albus feel meek and childish in comparison - before she faced her questioners. Save for Harry - who was currently resting in the southwest classroom - everyone who had been in the Vanished Wing had moved to the northeast classroom. The Ghost Riders, along with Tamsin and Regulus, had been brought up from East Hampshire by both Fawkes and Lucy (called in to help by Chikage). "Over the years and centuries, he sought out other people like him to either try and help them overcome what the meson was doing to them . . . or to mercy-kill them when the influx of power on their souls just became far too much to bear." She shook her head.

"Are you alright, my dear?" Filius asked.

A sigh. "No, Professor, I'm not. Grandfather never ONCE indicated anything of this nature to me." A self-depreciating smirk then crossed her face. "Then again, given how much power he forced through the Spiral - which is powered by _diamond_ and _ruby_ meson - to bring me to the Garden in July, it's not surprising now that he used some sort of meson to come here back in '32, not to mention hop around dimensions between then and the time he returned home in '39." A shake of the head as she gazed up to the high ceiling of the classroom. "Well, there's another thing I have to do . . . "

"What sort of thing?" Shirley Anderson asked.

"Decrystalise all the ebony meson in Britain that's come into contact with anything living," the traveller stated. "The whole _Kokujun_ ward stone network will have to be completely redone. All of Tom's followers would have to undergo this. Not to mention the people here like yourself, Shirley, not to mention the other metas here in Britain and Ireland. Maybe elsewhere, too; I know the system was replicated all across the Dominions and the colonies after Grandfather erected the prototype system here in the British Isles . . . "

"Would you need some help in seeing if there was a faster way of doing it?" Filius then asked. "Now that I understand what Ryūji actually created, I'm certain that each county ward stone network has to be controlled from a base ward stone. If we can focus the decrystalisation efforts through that, it will go much more quickly."

"At the various Reeve's Towers, Chikage?" Albus asked.

"Yes," Chikage affirmed with a nod.

"So the Magical Sheriffs were always there, you mean?"

Eyes locked on Tamsin. "They were," Achelois answered. "But it was only recently that the Magical Sheriffs began to really re-interact with 'mainstream' society, not to mention move in to keep the normal-borns protected with the Loyal Oath."

"Believe it or not, Tammy, it was what your other-self's friends were doing in the Wizengamot that prompted that," Camellia added. "Especially after 1964."

Hermione perked. "What happened then?"

"The Muggleborn Registration Act was passed, Hermione," Albus replied. "It was a rather vile piece of legislation authored by Delores Umbridge. No doubt prompted by Tom through people such as Abraxas Malfoy, young Draco's grandfather."

"What did the Act say?" Tamsin asked.

"It required all post-Hogwarts normal-borns and half-bloods raised in normal society to seek out a pureblood or magically-raised half-blood 'sponsor' on threat of potential loss of their magic, Tammy," Severus replied. Like the others wizards in the room, he was finding it quite easy to speak to Tamsin and not really think of her as a mere female version of Tom Riddle as Voldemort. Despite her clear power - Filius had done the Neuwied Test on her, resulting in a score of 188 points - Tamsin seemed far more emotionally in control of herself than Tom had been when he had transformed the Knights of Walpurgis into the Death Eaters and formally launched the Purification War in the 1970s. "But despite what that law could have done, it never could be really enforced."

"I always wondered why," Minerva said.

"When the Magical Sheriffs all heard of the Act, they launched a concentrated campaign to find every person targeted by the Act, so that they could to give them the Loyal Oath so they would then fall under the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1703 and the provisions of the Separation Act which guaranteed freedom to practice magic as long as other people were not harmed - either physically or emotionally - by that, Professor McGonagall," Marian explained. "Thus, with the Loyal Oath to the Crown, they could not be forced to make additional 'loyal oaths' to any 'patron' that wanted to take them in as virtual magical slaves. By the time 1970 rolled around, the number of normal-borns threatened by the Act could be counted on one's hands and toes. And since it proved useless in the end, the Headmaster here was able to push through the Muggleborn Rights Act later that year to toss out Umbridge's law. And right after that . . . "

"The first attack on Diagon Alley by the Death Eaters," Jane finished.

"'The shot heard 'round the world,'" Chikage mused.

Everyone nodded. "For a lot of people, it was too much," a new voice said.

Eyes locked on Regulus, who was seated beside Chrystal, her arm wrapped around his shoulders as he rested his head on hers. "How are you, my dear boy?" Albus then asked as he gazed in concern at the once-dead heir of the House of Black.

"Still . . . very tired at times, sir," Regulus admitted. "It's nice . . . that I can remember home, now . . . " He blinked. "Who came back, anyway?"

"Sirius' daughter, Adara," the headmaster stated. "She was born out of wedlock, but your mother's father persuaded your father to change his will to allow succession to leadership of your House to extend to ANY direct blood descendant of your father."

"She's pretty alright," Jane assured the older man. "You'll like her."

He blinked, and then he nodded as he closed his eyes. "Why don't you get him home, Chrys?" Mildred said. "He still needs a chance to get his strength back."

"Let me prepare some potions for Mister Black before you go, Miss Taggart," Poppy stated as she stood to leave. "Much that I can see how the use of cannabis smoked through your lungs helps you and your friends stay relatively sane and in control with all that meson in your bodies, he doesn't have as much of that material in his body as you do in yours."

Chrystal nodded her thanks. As the healer left the room, everyone then gazed on the other Ghost Riders. "So why'd you bring that other zombie with you?" Jane asked.

Mildred smirked. "Tammy, do you think you could absorb that soul fragment in Harry's head back into you?" she asked the reborn Dark Lord.

Tamsin shuddered. "No, not really. Especially after Filius told me about how powerful that horcrux . . . " She paused, and then she sighed before gazing pleadingly at Chikage. "Chikage, if I'm NOT a horcrux, then WHAT AM I?"

"A soul-replica," the traveller responded. "In effect, you're Tom's daughter."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"'Daughter' . . .?" Tamsin eeped.

Chikage took a deep breath. "Tamsin, you said that every time Tom did the horcrux ritual right to when you were created, he always focused his magic through the amulet he eventually made from the meson sample Grandfather gave him in 1939, correct?"

A faint nod. "Yes . . . "

"Well, given what you and Aesup have told us about the horcrux creative process, I believe now that Tom was - simultaneously - both defeating his chosen purpose . . . and, in an odd way, actually accomplishing it," the traveller explained. "By allowing his soul to be 'split' like that, he wanted to achieve immortality, guarantee his soul would be anchored to this life even if his body was somehow destroyed. By focusing that soul 'fragment' through meson, however, he allowed each fragment he created to be transformed into a WHOLE soul that could then be implanted into objects like this." She tapped the locket that had held Tamsin's soul, now lying on the work table in the middle of the room. "As to how this helped Tom remain in this life - even presently discorporated - after he tried to kill Harry, I can't say. And as to what the state of his soul actually is, I simply can't speculate. All I can state now is a theory: Since Tom BELIEVES his horcruxi guarantee his continued existence, the meson fragments within those horcruxi will aid him in doing that. Meson, as I told Terry Boot's father the day I met him, is the element of the mind and the soul. And ultimately of magic. Magic, Grandfather always told me, is ultimately powered by one's _belief_ in oneself . . . and one's **faith** about one's place in the Universe. Tom believes his magic is structured in such a way that he is guaranteed endless life, thus allowing him to progress whatever other goals strike his fancy. Destroy THAT belief . . . and you'll more than guarantee that when Tom is struck down finally by Harry, he'll remain down." To Albus. "That . . . "

"Is the 'power he knows not,'" the headmaster finished.

"Exactly."

"So how do we draw this _pabo_ out so we can do that and get it over with finally?" Aesup wondered. "We've got the Stone here. Can't we use that?"

"Not without risking the other children and staff, Aesup," Severus warned.

"I wish I could help."

Eyes locked on Tamsin. "Be assured, you can still be of aide to us, Tamsin. Not to mention your 'sister' when we finally extract her soul from Harry's head and place it in the body your friends were so kind to provide for the occasion," Albus stated. "Even if your experience, so to speak, ended only in 1948 when you were severed from Tom, you still could provide very deep insights into what he thinks and what he could do." He then stood. "Even better, your 'sister' - as she was created in 1981 - would have many answers to a lot of questions a lot of people have asked about Tom's actions during the last war and what lead up to it. I no doubt suspect she would definitely help us find the other soul-copies so we can help them truly live as well . . . "

"There's a problem right there."

"What sort of problem?" Minerva asked.

Tamsin smirked. "Minerva, it's really simple. As 'insane' as I was as Tom, I was also pretty smart as well. What makes you think that by the time Thérèse was created in '81, he hadn't taken some sort of precautions against that?"

"Is that the name we'll let her go by?" Shirley asked.

"It's the female form of a name I once actually wanted to have for myself when I was in the orphanage," Tamsin stated. "I always thought 'Tom' was so PLAIN . . . "

Everyone stared at her, and then laughter filled the room . . .

* * *

Later . . .

"So in an 'unprogrammed' state, an inferi transformed by ebony meson thanks to a wizard or witch would still be quite a powerful person?" Filius noted.

"That's what we noticed after we pulled Reg out of the pool six years ago," Shirley stated as everyone gathered in the southwest classroom. Poppy had returned sometime before with the necessary potions to give to Chrystal for Regulus' benefit before Fawkes was called in to return them back to Hampshire. Harry was still in his bed asleep, covers drawn over him, a light smile on his face. Standing beside him to his left was one of the reborn inferi from the cave under the Ghost Riders' manor home. The soon-to-be-woken Thérèse was a pretty lady with tanned skin, sunflower blonde hair (styled in cute side ponytails, which made her seem a little more childish than the tomboy Tamsin had become) and the same type of crystal blue eyes Tamsin herself possessed. She was dressed in form-fitting black leather trousers, a knit halter top and a leather rider's jacket with the Ghost Riders' flaming skeleton rider-on-a-motorcycle motif. "Hence, the reason why we used them sparingly until such time as we got an understanding of you wizards and how you live your lives."

Understanding nods from the others in the room. By then, Chikage had placed a clear bit of diamond meson right on the cross cut of Harry's scar, allowing the tip to gently press between the folds of flesh surrounding it. "Alright," she said as she held her free hand back. "Everyone, stay clear and don't say a word." As the others around her nodded, she relaxed herself before uttering, "_Seishin-Hasai Hi-Kōsen!_"

The Killing Curse-green beam of the Spirit-Breaker Fire-Light exploded from the palm of her hand to lance into Harry's head right at the scar. Instantly, an explosion of energy burst out of the wound to inundate the crystal with waves of force. At that moment, a dark plume of smoke then began to vent out of the wound as a pained cry echoed through the air. "_**STOP THIS AT ONCE! I AM VOLDEMORT! YOU WILL . . .!**_"

Chikage's eyes narrowed. "Tom, if my grandfather saw what you did to yourself, he'd be doing the same thing to you!" she snarled as Albus instantly rose a shield around the bed to ensure the others in the room would not be targets of possession by the would-be horcrux spirit. "SHUT UP and let it happen! We're saving your life!"

"_**WHA- . . . AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH . . .!**_"

As the dark smoke finally blew clear of its former host's body, Harry jerked as the crystal then popped out of the scar, which began to bleed clean as Chikage snared it with her other hand and Poppy went to work sealing the wound with her wand. As the traveller held up the glowing crystal, everyone was quick to see that the smoke was now being drawn into it from all sides. "_**NO! NO, PLEASE . . .!**_" that inhuman voice howled in fright as it felt itself being yanked into something that was cold and quite inhuman. "_**PLEASE! DON'T DO THIS TO ME! I AM VOLDEMORT! DON'T . . .!**_"

Chikage sighed as she moved around the foot of Harry's bed to get to the waiting body, which had not moved or reacted at all to what the traveller had done to her current schoolmate. "And now, Tom - or, pardon me, Thérèse - let's give you a new body," she said before she placed the tip of the crystal right in the middle of the transformed inferi's forehead. "And in you go . . . " she said with a grunt.

"_**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO . . .!**_"

With a hard _ki_ push, Chikage forced a considerable amount of energy through the crystal to physically drive it through the skin . . . and thus drive the soul right into the virgin brain tissue deep within Thérèse's body, which caused her to jolt as her eyes went very wide as a sparkle of life then appeared in those brilliant azure orbs. As the wailing scream of the would-be horcrux began to fade into a haunting echo, Thérèse's own mouth fluttered open as a weak "No . . .!" escaped her, revealing that she had something of a Midlands accent in her voice, touched with a fleck of some odd foreign tongue that the people watching this couldn't place. As her body began to shake in response to her brain having a soul "uploaded" into it, her eyes then began to tear as a tsunami of memories and images related to those memories began to bombard her. "Oh, no . . . please . . .!" she weakly rasped as the strength in her legs went, causing her to drop to the floor before she collapsed to one side, the crystal fully slipping into her flesh and leaving nothing in the way of a wound to mark its passage.

"My God . . . " Minerva breathed out as Poppy and Chikage moved to help the just-woken Thérèse off the floor and onto one of the nearby beds after Albus dropped the protective shield that protected everyone else from what just happened. Tamsin was quick to walk over and help her "sister" onto the bed, getting off her shoes before she was slipped under the covers and rolled onto one side as she was tucked in.

"That was most likely the way Chikage herself - and all her friends - were probably given their lives back," Severus then whispered as he shook his head, stunned to believe that even with all his knowledge and experience in magic - including its LIMITS! - that something like what they had just witnessed had really happened.

Filius walked over to wave his own wand over the just-woken Thérèse, and then he waited for a ghostly parchment to appear. "Oh, my word . . . " he breathed out. "Her own score is 193 points," he declared as he stared in shock at Albus.

The headmaster nodded. "I doubt Thérèse is in any decent condition to answer any detailed questions we need answered at this time. And she, like Tamsin, will need a chance to orientate herself to her new body. Poppy, give her something to let her sleep this off. I'm sure it'll be safe to allow everyone to remain here tonight; we'll excuse them all from tomorrow's classes." He then stared at the three heads-of-houses that were there. "Please: Not a word to any of the others about this."

"Let's at least explain that something happened that caused Harry's scar to start healing," Severus proposed. "Look at it now."

Eyes turned to Harry's forehead. The bleeding had stopped and the skin was almost visibly resealing after so many years apart. "Indeed," Albus stated. "I assume you wish to remain here to watch over your sister, Tamsin?"

"Even if we are 'sisters' in a way, she'll need a different family name," Tamsin warned. "The instant the other me hears 'Gaunt,' he'll know something's up."

"Peverell . . . "

Everyone jolted on hearing that voice, and then eyes turned to gaze on the blonde woman on the bed beside Harry. "Why that name?" Albus asked.

Thérèse blinked before a knowing smirk twisted her lips. "You're getting senile, Albus," she warned, her voice tinged with sarcasm as she fixed her eyes on him. "Don't you know anything of what Beedle the Bard wrote about the Hallows . . .?"

The headmaster blinked before his eyes turned down to his wand, which was still in his hand. After a moment, he nodded. "Of course . . . " he said before gazing once more at Thérèse. "Given that your other self is no doubt somewhere in the school, my dear, would you gladly consent to the middle name 'Ariana?' It will no doubt make Tom believe you to be a descendant of Ignotus and not Cadmus as you really are. Thus, that will also make you a 'relative,' so to speak, of Harry's."

"Who's Ariana?" Tamsin asked.

"My late sister."

Both Tamsin and Thérèse blinked before they nodded. "Bring Harry here," the latter then pleaded as she held her hands out. "I need to hold him . . . "

"Will you hurt him?"

That was both Hermione and Aesup. Thérèse blinked before she smiled. "Give me your wand," she asked Tamsin. As the yew-and-meson wand was passed over, the blonde took a deep breath. "I, Thérèse Ariana Peverell, spirit-daughter of Thomas Marvolo Riddle, also known as the Dark Lord Voldemort, vow on my magic and my life that I will never bring harm unto the person of Harold James Potter so long as he accepts me as his friend and ally to see the Prophecy that currently governs his life fulfilled to his benefit. This I vow. So mote it be." With a flash of light to "seal the deal," she breathed out as she handed the wand to her sister. "Nice wand. Where'd you get it?"

"Nigel Scabior," Tamsin replied.

Noting that, Albus chuckled as he made a wave with his wand. Harry, who was still asleep, was elevated off his bed and allowed to drift over into Thérèse's arms. Immediately, Poppy and Tamsin moved to tuck them in. As this was being done, Albus then turned to smile at the other Ghost Riders. "Would you ladies care to stay here overnight before returning back to your home? You clearly have more questions about how you came to be the way you are and we certainly have questions about you."

"An exchange?" Mildred asked. "Fair enough."

The others nodded . . .

* * *

The Vanished Wing, sometime after dawn . . .

Harry's eyes fluttered open.

He had just experienced a VERY strange dream.

Last thing he clearly remembered was studying with the Icemaidens and Hermione in the northwest classroom in the Wing when a very sharp pain slammed through his curse scar right into his head. What happened after that had really confused him . . .

. . . and when he believed he had fallen asleep . . .!

Right now, Harry couldn't help but blush.

As he was a child of only SEVEN when he had heard the tale of the birds and the bees - as it had been told by Elaine Buckshire, it had been rendered as _When the Tup and the Ewe Went Grazing All Alone on the Mountainside_ - Harry had a much more thorough understanding of what happened between boys and girls after puberty began than most his age, even in wizarding society. And while he had yet to experience any wet dreams, especially now that he was attending Hogwarts and was interacting regularly with his six best female friends - eight, counting Hermione Granger and Chikage Hirosaki - he knew it was only a matter of time before THAT particular urge would start to appear inside him. And while he felt he was more than ready to confront that embarrassment given he would be spending nine months each year for the next seven years inside a dormitory . . .

. . . wait?

What was this soft and very warm THING pressing into him from his side . . .?

. . . and wrapping around him . . .?

. . . and breathing into his EAR?

His green eyes went VERY wide as his left hand slid up a bare tummy to feel the soft side of what clearly had to be an older woman's hip - clothed in some form of leather, fortunately! - now lying on her side beside him in his bed. And while Harry had - especially in the early days of his living at Beckery Hill when he was still getting used to being with his sister and spiritual stepmother - slept with women before (always being one of his house elves, even Lilian), he certainly didn't expect to get the opportunity to do such HERE at HOGWARTS . . . especially in his FIRST YEAR!

Turning cautiously to his left, he found himself staring at a very well-formed and quite stunning face indicative of someone with northern European ancestry that bore a natural suntan, framed by dark blonde hair tied in shaggy pigtails over and behind the ears. A glance down revealed a knit halter-top covered by what seemed to be a black leather jacket. Harry then tensed on feeling that the "pillow" his head and neck were resting on was actually this strange woman's right arm; her left was now draped across his stomach and her left leg was bent up and tucked under his legs. Taking a moment to absorb that as he tried to recall when he could have met this woman, he then tensed as he felt a certain urge begin to make its needs known deep inside him. _Oh, bugger!_ he moaned to himself as he reached down to pull her arm away from him.

"No . . . Harry, don't go . . . "

Harry froze on hearing that quiet voice, and then he looked over to see an amused Chikage standing beside the bed. As he gave her a pleading look, the traveller sighed before she reached over to gently touch the girl's shoulder. "Thérèse, Harry has to go relieve himself, so could you let him go for a few minutes?" she asked.

A saucy smile crossed her face. "He can go inside me if he wants . . . "

Harry was now stark-white on hearing that. Chikage remained unperturbed. "Thérèse, it is not THAT type of relief," she gently scolded. "He's still some time away from taking your maidenhead and shagging you insensate under the full moon." She ignored Harry nearly choking on his own breath as she added, "Please?"

A whining moan escaped her as she pulled her left arm back. Instantly, Harry slipped out of the bed and scrambled out of the room as quick as his feet could carry him. As he headed off, Chikage shook her head. "Boys will be boys," she muttered under her breath before she stared at the sleeping Thérèse Peverell. "Even if they've been given the Jusenkyō treatment," she added before turning to head out . . .

* * *

Minutes later . . .

"Um, Chikage . . .?"

Chikage looked up from her notes to see a madly-blushing Harry standing at the doorway to the northwest classroom. Since she woke up, the traveller had been policing the space to ensure anything left in the open when the previous night's excitement had begun would not come back to harm anyone. "Who is she?" she asked his question as she closed her book. "Her name's Thérèse Peverell. Ironically, she's a magical bioroid."

Silence.

Harry's jaw dropped. "Um . . . wh-who created her?"

"Well, ultimately, it was Tom himself," she responded. "Did Aesup or her father ever tell you about the _nŏksbae_ concept?" On seeing him nod, she sat back in her chair. "A long time ago - shortly after Grandfather left, in fact - Tom got it into his head to create the local version of a _nŏksbae_, which is called a 'horcrux' here. When he tried to kill you ten years ago, he was no doubt using your murder to create a horcrux to store somewhere safe, most likely in his viper familiar, Nagini."

He blinked. "But you can't make living horcruxi, Chikage! It's impossible!"

"True, but no doubt, at the time he planned to do it, he had forgotten that particular aspect of horcrux creation," she noted as she reached for her tea cup to take a sip. "Thus, that could also explain - beyond what your mother did to protect you - why his body was destroyed when he tried to kill you. And thus, that particular 'horcrux' resided in hibernation in your head until we got it out last night and put it in an inferi once created by Tom to protect another 'horcrux' that later was restored to true life - with no soul inside it - and was brought here for that purpose."

His jaw dropped as he took that in, and then he shook his head. "So if Riddle forgot that he shouldn't make living horcruxi, then . . . " He then paused as he remembered what his friend had told him earlier on. "A magical bioroid?"

A nod. "Yes. The soul that was in your head was a COMPLETE soul COPY of Tom Riddle up to that point in his life. When he created his 'horcruxi' before, he always used an ebony meson focus crystal. Given to him by Grandfather, ironically. And because the 'horcrux' turned out to have a COMPLETE soul within it, when it was shifted into that body, it - now 'her' - became a true living being. Who calls herself 'Thérèse Ariana Peverell' now. Oh, and she swore a magical oath to you vowing to give up her magic and life if she hurt you so you could accept her as your friend."

Harry blinked, and then he slumped against the wall by the doorway. "She did WHAT?" he exclaimed. "Why did she do something like THAT?"

A shrug. "If you ask me, it may be because even if she was 'asleep' in your head, Thérèse does know of what you've been through in your life. And it is quite parallel to what she (as Tom) went through. That is until you united with Rose and moved to the Hill." She sipped her tea. "Besides, look at it this way: While I suspect Tom may have edited out some knowledge from what eventually became Thérèse, who on this planet now has as much knowledge concerning what he's become than she?"

He took a moment to consider that, and then he blinked. "We can use that to trap him if he's here in the castle!" he gasped, and then he blinked. "Wait! If Tom thought he was making horcruxi, does making her human make him 'mortal?'"

"Unfortunately, no. According to Tamsin - she's the black-haired girl with glasses who ISN'T the girlfriend to Adara's uncle; she came out of another of Tom's attempts at making horcruxi - there are at least two more of those things out there."

"Actually, four."

Both turned as Thérèse walked into the room. "Good morning, Thérèse. Did you sleep well?" Chikage asked before she sipped her tea.

"I did," she said as she moved to take a seat at a nearby desk.

Then, much to Harry's surprise, she reached over to gently pick him off the floor and allow him to sit down in her lap. He didn't resist, though his cheeks were once more turning bright-red as a result. Chikage didn't react save for an amused smile. As Thérèse continued to cuddle her former host, the traveller then gazed somewhere to the south-southwest. "Mistress Elizabeth! Could you join us, please?"

_Pop!_ "What is it, Mistress Chikage?" Bessie Bunter - who was now dressed in striped pyjamas as she (like the other elves living with the Potter siblings) always behaved pretty much as a human being in as many aspects of her life as she could - asked before she stifled back a yawn, and then she smiled at Harry. "Good morning, Master Har- . . .!" Her voice then screeched to a halt as she noted that said master was now being hugged by a very pretty and clearly older woman. "EH?" she eeped.

Chikage didn't bat an eye. "Mistress Elizabeth, meet Harry's new friend, Thérèse Peverell. She's a bioroid just like me and she was just woken last night, so her stomach hasn't had much of a chance to try to digest any sort of food. Could you please go back to the Hill and make one of those delightful vitamin milkshakes of yours, just like the one you made for me when I came to the Hill back in July?"

Bessie perked, and then she nodded. "Right away, Mistress!" _Pop!_

"That was a house elf!" Thérèse exclaimed.

The traveller nodded. "Yes. She's one of six that Harry and his sister have."

"But she looked HUMAN!"

"That was thanks to my grandfather."

Thérèse blinked. "Um, why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would your grandfather do something like THAT?"

A shrug. "Because he could, Thérèse. And he wanted to."

The blonde soul-replica of the Dark Lord blinked, and then she fell quiet as she moved to draw Harry closer to her. He remained still, though on noting the confused and lost look on the older-looking woman's face, he did hug her back . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	23. Ron's Sickness

An hour later . . .

Albus sighed. "So atop your school diary and your mother's family ring - whose existence Tamsin was more than pleased to confirm - there was also a cup that once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff, and the Lost Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, Thérèse?"

Thérèse nodded. "Exactly."

The headmaster and two of his house leaders were currently meeting with the two soul-copies of Voldemort in the northeast classroom. The members of the Ghost Riders were in the southwest classroom enjoying breakfast thanks to the castle's house-elves, who had all been declared part of the "land of the little people" by the four visiting motorcycle riders (Chrystal Taggart was currently in Hampshire with Regulus Black) and found themselves declared "most nicest Muggles" by Lizzy and her peers in return. And Harry, Chikage, Hermione and the Icemaidens were taking a chance to spend a long day in the dōjō working on both their unarmed and armed defensive forms. Albus had made the announcement of "something very extraordinary" concerning Harry's curse scar at breakfast in the Great Hall which would preclude his and his friends' attendance in classes today. No doubt, that would have Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis and Millicent Bulstrode - with Blaise Zabini being another possibility - racing to the Vanished Wing to look in on their friends as soon as they got a free period.

Severus took a deep breath. "And when Tom forged you, he deliberately edited out all information as to where those particular objects were located, correct? Not to mention anything concerning how Tom learned where James and Lily were hiding?"

"Yes." She gazed at him, quickly noting the LACK of any sort of anger or other real emotion towards this man who had taken her other-self's mark - which was for LIFE, after all! - and yet gladly turned around and betrayed her other-self all because of the deep feelings he possessed, even now, for Lily Potter. On thinking that, she then dismissed the questions about betrayal from her mind. What happened back then was in the past and really didn't need to be dwelled upon anymore. Besides, she had found it quite easy to latch onto Harry when she had awoken in her new body - how, she didn't know - so anything Severus did that protected Harry was more than acceptable to her. "You know how compartmented things were back then, Severus."

A nod. "True."

"Still, we could try to guess as to where the other ones are," Tamsin stated. "I myself was in a cave where we went to while we were still in the orphanage."

Albus, Severus and Minerva were quick to note that the use of the plural "we," clearly signifying a time when Tamsin Gaunt and Thérèse Peverell were, in effect, all parts of the soul of one Tom Riddle. "The one where we scared the hell out of Amy and Dennis, you mean?" Thérèse stated as she stared at her spiritual sister.

A nod. "The same."

"So clearly, Tom would have chosen places that were emotionally significant to him," Albus noted. "Would the orphanage be such a place?"

A snort. "No," Tamsin stated, shaking her head. "We LOATHED that place, Albus. Believe me, after you came to us for the first time to tell us about magic, that place was no longer a home to us. The sooner we were out of there, the better."

"Even though we hated it when you sent us back there," Thérèse added.

The headmaster sighed. "I should have listened to Ryūji . . . "

"Why don't you try to move away from the past, Professor?"

Everyone turned to see Mildred Anderson standing at the doorway. "Because my decisions in the past led to a lot of misery for a lot of people, Miss Anderson," the headmaster confessed. "Merlin only knows, none of us are perfect people . . . "

"But now you know there are others that are there to pick up the slack when someone falls through the cracks," the leader of the Ghost Riders said as she walked in to lean on the back of Tamsin's chair. "Stop trying to hold up the world on your shoulders, Professor," she then urged. "You're not Atlas, you know. The world's too big and too damned complex to even try to do something like that."

A dry chuckle. "Miss Anderson, we've tried many times to make Albus see that. What makes you think that you'll succeed when we haven't?" Severus stated.

Laughter filled the room. "Well, much that I still feel too many temptations to 'meddle' (as some people have accused me of doing) in the affairs of others for the greater good, I can understand why others would wish me to leave things alone," Albus said before shrugging. "But look what happens when I leave things alone for too long?"

"Does the kid hate you for it? Much less his sister?"

Albus gazed on Mildred, and then he sighed. "He would have every right to hate me for it," he then admitted, finding himself surprised despite his understanding now of the full nature of the biker's power that she was able to detect what he was speaking of so easily. "And yet he doesn't. He calls me 'Grandpapa,' even in public. As does she. And the family that was also affected by my inactions - with an older son now unable to practice magic while the younger son and the daughters are all destined to come here - also accept what happened." He shook his head. "And I feel I don't deserve any forgiveness for that. Try as I might to make people understand that what I want for our society will not hurt anyone in the long term, there are just too many people who are trapped and blinded by their fears to not see the wider world. They would oppose me just because I am the way I am without trying to see what it would mean for THEM! And after my experiences in the Second World War, I do not feel I have any right to impose myself directly on people, not like what Gellert had in mind. Either here or in the Wizengamot or the Ministry or the I.C.W. or anywhere else. I do my best to persuade people to see the truth, but . . . " Here, he stopped before taking a deep breath. "I have caused the deaths of many people in my time, Mildred. And while there may be some who are totally beyond redemption, if I give up hoping ALL can see the light, then everything I have done in my life is meaningless in the end."

Mildred smirked. "You know, there've been times we've been tempted to use our powers for our own version of the 'greater good.' It's like what Peter Parker's uncle always said, Albus: 'With great power comes greater responsibility.'" She shrugged. "But what would it do in the end? Would our being 'superheroes' actually help people walk away from their own stupid decisions and bad choices? Would stopping a drunk driver from crashing into someone actually teach him NOT to drink?" She shook her head. "It sounds awful, but our society isn't anywhere close to a utopia."

"Survival of the fittest, you mean?" Minerva stated.

"Maybe. I see it as 'survival of the smartest.'"

Albus hummed. "You told us there are at least fifty people such as yourself in Britain - your group included - with another thirty or so in Ireland. Have you ever come together to try to determine how you gained the meson in your blood?"

"Not really," Mildred stated. "After we all began to realise how powerful we all were and how different we were from normal people, we eventually just decided it would be the best to live our lives in peace and quiet. Stay as much under the radar as possible. Save for my group and one other group, we all pretty much live on our own or in pairs, either couples or siblings. The other group's based near Edinburgh. They're . . . " She paused as she thought about how to best explain it to three people who were clearly lacking in knowledge of normal society, and then she sighed. "Well, if you know anything about motorcycle culture, they'd be seen as 'one percenters.'"

"And that means?" Minerva asked.

"An outlaw gang. Like the Hell's Angels across the pond in America," Mildred explained. "They're all guys, by the way. Group of six. They haven't bumped into any wizards yet, but if they run into any of Tom's old pals . . . " She shook her head.

"They're killing themselves," Thérèse concluded. "And I don't mean the bikers."

The older wizards all winced. "Do they know about me being with you now?" Tamsin asked as she gazed with concern at her new friend.

"Probably. We're here and they see all of Scotland as their riding turf."

"Oh, dear . . . " Albus breathed out.

«_Chill, Anderson._»

Mildred perked. "What the fuck do you want, Zee?"

A dark laugh. «_Other than to screw you to the point where you can't walk for a week afterward?_» The wizards - even Tamsin and Thérèse - all gaped; they ALL heard that psionic voice. «_Understand one thing, Bumblebee_,» that voice - it was a man's, sounding about the same age as Mildred - then warned. Minerva was quick to detect a brogue. «_You magicals leave us alone, we leave you alone. That berk Riddle or any of his fools tries to bother us - to say ANYTHING about anyone from your 'Ministry' of morons - we all measure them for concrete galoshes for a dip in the North Sea._»

The voice then faded from their minds. "My word . . . " Albus breathed out.

"Sorry," Mildred breathed out . . .

* * *

And November rolled on . . .

While Tamsin Gaunt was quick to vacate Hogwarts to return back to East Hampshire so she could live full-time with the Ghost Riders so as to not arouse the suspicions of the spirit of Tom Riddle (wherever he was), Thérèse Peverell was quick to make her presence known inside the castle thanks to Albus introducing her at breakfast the day after the startling announcement concerning Harry's scar. Declaring her to be a home-raised witch who had not even been allowed the privilege of obtaining either her OWLs or NEWTs due to her late parents' hatred and mistrust of the Ministry of Magic, the headmaster then introduced the young woman as a "free witch apprentice of Hogwarts."

With the Sorting Hat brought out immediately afterward - as all those who worked or learned within the walls of Hogwarts had to be sorted even if they had never been regular students - the young witch was welcomed as a member of Gryffindor.

That shocked everyone who knew the truth about Thérèse.

Especially Thérèse herself.

Soon enough, thanks to people like Hermione Granger and Michael Corner (for the first years), everyone at the school was quick to understand what being a Free Apprentice of Hogwarts actually meant. Falling back upon the most ancient traditions of magical society before Hogwarts was founded, senior teachers would take in grown-up students and privately tutor them in the necessary skills and knowledge so that they could take their own place as teachers at Hogwarts or go forth and found other schools affiliated with Hogwarts (which sadly had not happened since well before the era of the English Reformation; the beginning of the "Dark Times of Magic" as it was more commonly known among wizards). Thanks to the Bloody Baron (whom Chikage herself had confirmed as the first-ever Free Wizard Apprentice of Hogwarts; he had been under the charge of Salazar Slytherin himself), everyone quickly accepted the pretty blonde as just another lucky student learning the ways of magic within the halls of the ancient castle.

As time went on, Thérèse - who had been placed under the primary apprenticeship of Veronica Roper - began to gather together all the normal-borns currently attending Hogwarts so she could help tutor them during their free time in a basic understanding of wizarding society and culture. This - especially when it came to eager first-year students such as Hermione Granger, Sally-Anne Perks, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Megan Jones and Kevin Entwhistle (not to mention Dean Thomas, Mandy Brocklehurst, Michael Corner and Wayne Hopkins, who would be seen as "muggle-raised" in mainstream wizarding society) - became a favourite after-class activity as it gave people like them the chance to finally ask all the questions they had concerning all the interesting nuances that made wizarding society in Britain the way it was (and had yet to gain the chance to ask these sorts of questions in History of Magic). Thérèse - drawing on her own observations gained from Tom Riddle's years in Hogwarts (not to mention the decades he spent on his own developing the skills he would later put to use as Voldemort during the Purification War) - was more than happy to answer everything they wanted to know.

Thérèse's success in that endeavour was proven near the end of the month . . .

* * *

The library, Friday 29 November, second period after lunch . . .

"You want WHAT?" Hermione asked.

All the first year students were currently sitting in a group in the main part of the library, busy studying for the upcoming term-end examinations, scheduled to begin the very next week. "I need to copy your homework for the last essay McGonagall wants us to do before the test on Wednesday," Ron stated before he reached over . . .

. . . and grabbed thin air. "Excuse me, _Ronald_!" the normal-born from West Sussex snarled as she glared at him, keeping her voice down as Irma Pince was close by. "What in the name of God do you think you're doing?" she then snapped.

"I need your homework!" he protested as he made another grab for her work.

Hermione pulled away as someone else said, "Strange. I didn't hear 'please.'"

Ron shuddered as he fired Brianna an annoyed look; she was currently seated to one side of Harry, with Aesup on the other side and the other Icemaidens - including Chikage - holding the other places at their table. "Who asked you?" he snapped.

The six girls - Chikage was currently tapping away on her PADD as she committed some notes to memory - all glared at him for a moment before Achelois sighed. "On a scale of one to ten, ladies?" she asked before she conjured a ghostly "10" in the air.

The others all matched her. "What does that mean?" Blaise asked from the table behind Harry as he and those of his house sitting at their table - Daphne, Tracey, Millicent, Ophion Rhodes, Erebus Geanian and Theodore Nott - all turned to look.

"A perfect 'ten' for mudbrain-ness, Blaise," Aesup provided.

Ron gargled as the Slytherins all softly laughed. "I'll remind myself on the holidays to write the people composing the Oxford Magical English Dictionary to include that word in their next update," Chikage then added as she gave him an amused look.

Ron scowled at her, and then he jolted on hearing a chair scrape over the floor as Hermione got to her feet and moved to leave. "Hey, 'Mione . . .!"

She stopped to glare intently at him. "Young Master Weasley, I willingly tried to assist you once before," she stated in a frosty voice that had everyone - EVEN Chikage! - stare in surprise at her. "You rebuffed me in a most disgusting and vile manner that brought shame to your whole family since you ALSO did that in front of those of our peers who had the gross misfortune to be in that class that day. If you believe I will assist you in trying to shore up your galling and pathetic study habits so that you can coast your way through lessons here, sir, you are SORELY mistaken." With that, she turned to gaze on the Ravenclaws, who were all seated to the other side of where Harry and his friends were seated from their Slytherin peers to give them a polite nod; they had been listening in. "Merry day to you all, my friends."

Hearing THAT, all the purebloods present gaped before they quickly recovered, and then Tara Mather gave her a smile. "Merry day to you, Baroness Hermione."

And with that, she marched out of the room with her head held high . . . leaving behind a stunned Ron, who stood there with his mouth flapping up and down as his brain tried to absorb the fact that she had just publicly told him off. Nearby, many of the others in his year - especially the purebloods, even those from Slytherin - were nodding in approval and admiration at how easily Hermione had brought her housemate down. As his ears then registered the snickers and whispers from his peers, his face flushed before he spun on Harry. "Harry! You talk to her! Make her help me!"

Before Harry - who had then been in a private conversation in Japanese with Achelois - could respond, a stern voice then stated, "MISTER Weasley! Does the concept of remaining quiet inside this library mean ANYTHING to you?"

Ron awked as he turned to see a very upset Irma Pince walk up to him, followed by a barely amused Thérèse Peverell. "But . . . but . . .!" he sputtered.

"Weasley, that's twenty points from Gryffindor for your inability to pull up your bootstraps and wanting to leech off your classmates like that," Thérèse instantly declared; as she was an adult, she had been given the rights of a prefect. And given that she had inherited Tom Riddle's insatiable drive for knowledge and pushing himself past his limits, seeing someone who was so inherently lazy was abhorrent to her.

As all the Gryffindors save Harry, Aesup and Brianna then glared in anger at their housemate for yet ANOTHER gaffe he had caused which had cost them house points, Irma nodded in approval. "Take another twenty points off from Gryffindor for making such a disturbance in the library, Mister Weasley," she added before turning away.

As the librarian headed back to her desk and Thérèse was called over by Sally-Anne to help out with her potions homework, Ron then cringed as Seamus Finnegan came up to him. "Mate, can't you learn to keep your damn trap shut for once?" the young wizard from County Antrim then asked before he picked up his own books and walked off.

Ron cringed on hearing that, and then he ducked the angry stares from people such as Dean, Parvati and Lavender. He then turned pleadingly once more to Harry . . . who was now walking away from him to another part of the library alongside Aesup and Brianna, the other Icemaidens following them; Chikage was still at the table tapping away on her PADD as she continued to transcribe her notes to the machine's memory. As he noted that, he jolted on hearing Draco declare, "Don't bother with Harry, Weasel. He's not interested in helping a lazy-arse fool like you try to be more than you could ever be even if you TRIED." As Ron glared at the blond Slytherin, Draco smiled as he rose from his desk, followed by Pansy, Juno, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

"Indeed, friend Draco," Juno noted with a wintry smile that made Ron's skin turn even more red as her dark grey eyes raked over him. "It makes me wonder what Marquess Harold's late parents might be thinking at this time, considering how LOW the relatives of their allies in the late war have become. Indeed, I have to strongly wonder what sort of students THIS blowhard's parents were like when THEY attended this school."

Ron flushed, and then he pointed in accusation at her. "Oh? What about YOUR parents, Meretrice?" he snarled. "Must be nice to be related to SQUIBS!"

Draco tensed. "Are you insulting my friend?"

"And what about it?" Ron challenged back.

The blond hid well his smirk before he turned to gracefully bow to his housemate from Rhosan Green. "My Lady Juno, may I have the privilege of defending your honour?"

She smiled. "You may, My Lord Draco."

Draco turned back on Ron. "Wizard's Duel."

The redhead shuddered, and then he nodded . . .

* * *

Leaving the Vanished Wing, Saturday 30 November, a couple hours before dawn . . .

"Are you sure you're alright, Thérèse?"

Thérèse blinked as she followed the Icemaidens, Hermione, Harry and Chikage out of the tunnel under the greenhouse. Everyone had gone to the Vanished Wing to spend some time studying and preparing their class notes for Astronomy before returning to their dorms and sleeping in for the rest of the morning. "I just can't explain it, 'Mione," she admitted as she gave Harry's hand a warm squeeze, which made him smile up at her, though he was still blushing; during their time in the Wing, she had insisted he sit in her lap when he studied. "It's just that whenever I get close to him . . . "

"You want to hug and snog his brains out," Chikage finished, grinning.

Thérèse nodded, her cheeks now as red as Harry's, as the others all laughed. "How could that be, Chikage?" Camellia asked as everyone got clear of the stairwell leading to the tunnel before the traveller drew out her wand to close the entrance.

"I can't speculate on that right now, Camellia," Chikage confessed as people turned to head down the hallway towards the History of Magic classroom, which would lead them to the patio around the inner main courtyard of the academic wing. "But from what I've overhead others speak of it, it appears Mrs. Potter's blood sacrifice allowed powerful protections to fall over Harry. And since Thérèse was, in effect, a part of Harry for a little over a decade, when she was released to live her own life . . . "

Harry blinked. "You mean MOM's making Thérèse act like this?"

"No, Harry," the traveller replied. "But what I DO believe happened is that the magic of your mother's sacrifice was quick to recognise that Thérèse was not just a soul-fragment of her murderer. As we all know now, Thérèse is her own being and has always been her own being. And since Thérèse's continued presence inside Harry did not ultimately cause him any harm, the blood ward protections decided - influenced, I believe, by the ebony meson that was present in Thérèse's initial creation - to see to it that this 'daughter of the enemy' (so to speak) would, in effect, become Harry's ally when she was finally freed of his body and allowed to live her own life."

The others considered that, and then Aesup nodded. "And since _Thérèse-ŏnni_'s body was originally created thanks to the meson that was in Regulus Black's Dark Mark - with the original intent of making her a potential mate for him - when that magic mixed with the magic _Harry-ya_'s mother unleashed, it saw to it . . . "

"That Thérèse will become Harry's perfect girlfriend," Marian finished as Thérèse's cheeks reddened on her realising that Aesup just called her "older sister."

Silence fell as they considered that, and then Hermione looked up to Thérèse, quickly noting the contemplative look then on the blonde woman's face. "You're not bothered by that, are you?" she asked as she gave her free hand a squeeze.

Thérèse blinked, and then she sighed as they stepped off the patio and made their way into the foyer of the administration tower, which also led to the academic side of the Inner Bridge connecting to the residential wing. "Not really . . . "

"Who's there?" a strange voice then bellowed.

Immediately, Harry and Hermione let go of Thérèse's hands as they all looked in the direction of the residential wing, and then Chikage knelt down. "Good morning, Mrs. Norris," she said as a familiar Maine Coon cat trotted out from the direction of the Inner Bridge. Quickly walking over to sniff the traveller's hand, she then meowed before she began rubbing against her skin. By then, footfalls heralded the arrival of the school groundskeeper. "Master Filch, a good morning to you," she then called out.

Argus Filch jolted yet again on hearing the traveller call him "Master," and then he sighed on seeing the parchment chit in Thérèse's hand declaring that all the people currently with her had permission to be away from the dorms during curfew. "'Evenin' to ye, Miss Thérèse," the squib then said as he nodded politely to her. "Some late night tutorin' for the young'uns before tuckin' them in to bed?"

"Afraid so, Argus," Thérèse said with a smile, again finding herself surprised at being comfortable in the presence of a person whom she - as Tom - never cared for since he had no ability to manipulate magic on his own. "How's the hunting?"

A snort. "I think there's a couple of them delinquents that are still runnin' about," he said as he glanced back towards the residential wing. "Couldn't catch them, but I'll get them for sure one of these days," he muttered before heading off.

"Happy hunting," Chikage bade.

Mrs. Norris ran off after him as he headed onto the patio so he could take the corridor around the advanced arithmancy class to get back to his office, which was on the west side of the smaller courtyard of the academic wing. They all watched him go, and then they headed onto the bridge, soon finding themselves in the main corridor connecting to the ground floor teacher's residences. As she got there, Chikage then tensed as she sensed something off somewhere to her south and three floors up. After a second, she sighed. "Oh, _wonderful_! Who the devil's up there?"

The others tensed. "Who?" Harry demanded.

The traveller didn't respond as she raced down to the cul-de-sac nestled in on the ground floor of the southeast tower of the residential wing, which is where (as they all knew) the fourth layer of the defences around the Philosopher's Stone was currently located. Getting out into the open under the arch bridge that connected the third floor of the southeast tower with the area of the moving staircases, she then drew her white cloak around her and allowed herself to levitate right into the air. "CHIKAGE!" Hermione cried out as the traveller made her way onto the ledge by the inside windows, and then she opened the outside latch to get inside.

"Something's going on with the Stone!" Harry said as he drew his wand. "C'mon!"

With a whispered "_Wingardium Leviosa_," he boosted himself into the air right after his friend. The other Icemaidens quickly followed, with Thérèse pulling Hermione close to her as they proceeded to follow. Once they were back inside the building itself, Thérèse wandlessly closed and locked the window as Chikage stealthily walked over to the closed doors that led into the back of the chamber where Fluffy would be now. Of course, the doors here - which served as the "back door" to the dreaded "third floor corridor" that had been charmed and _ki_ shielded off to alert certain people when someone attempted to try to make a grab for the Philosopher's Stone - had been magically sealed with help from the castle's house elves to ensure that anyone trying for the Stone would be forced to approach it from only one direction.

As the others crowded together close to the sealed door, Chikage turned to gaze intently at Harry, allowing a Legilimency link to form. _We've got two people just inside the north doorway to the chamber where Fluffy is now_, she thought out as the Icemaidens all focused their eyes on hers and Thérèse whispered a spell to allow Hermione - who had just begun her lessons in Occlumency two weeks before, after she had been convinced of the seriousness of protecting her mind (and Thérèse's identity) from potential eavesdroppers by Albus and Severus personally - to listen in. _Don't recognise the_ ki _signatures, so it's not anyone who's made this attempt before._

_Don't you know everyone's_ ki _signature by now?_ Hermione mentally "asked."

Chikage gave her an annoyed look. _Hermione, I may be very good at the martial arts, but believe me, I'm NOT Ranma Saotome!_ she chided before rising up to trace a finger along the crack of the sealed door to sense out its _ki_ pattern . . .

_Pop!_ "Why you tries . . .?"

Harry's hands instantly clapped closed the mouth of one of the house elves that normally worked in the kitchen, said elf now holding a rather LARGE butcher's knife. The others around the new arrival immediately made shushing noises to keep him quiet. As everyone turned to Chikage to see if the elf's entrance had alerted whoever was now with Fluffy, the traveller blinked before she knelt down, also making a shushing motion with her finger. "Master Butchy, we're trying to catch the two people now inside with Fluffy," she whispered quietly as Harry pulled his hand away from Butchy's mouth. "Can you please temporarily unseal the door so we can go in and stun them?"

Butchy blinked, and then he nodded as he made a motion with his hand; the Master-Headmaster had stated that the beautiful Young Mistress Chikage was to be trusted. Chikage smiled as she sensed the door being unsealed, and then she drew her wand. "Stunning spells, on three," she whispered to everyone else before she stood up to place her hand on one of the door knobs, Harry mirroring her with the other knob.

"Three . . . Two . . . One . . . Now!"

The doors were yanked open as the girls all aimed their wands.

"_**STUPEFY!**_"

_THUD!_ Times two.

A questioning growl then escaped what else was in there.

"Down, Fluffy!" Chikage then said as she turned to walk inside. "Stay!"

Seeing the pretty traveller who had that very weird cherry scent to her body, the hellhound yipped as he shuffled back from her, allowing her to get around the hidden hatchway that he had been sitting on to gaze on the fallen people there.

One look was enough.

"Ronald? Neville?"

Everyone else came up to stare at the unconscious Gryffindors. "What the hell are THEY doing here?" Achelois then demanded as she put her fists to hips.

"That is what I would like to know, Achelois."

People turned as someone quickly made himself visible.

"Good morning, Professor Snape," Chikage stated with a smile . . .

* * *

The Gryffindor common room, after lunch . . .

"_**YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THERE WITH ME, HARRY!**_"

Harry blinked as he took that in, and then he turned back to glare at the youngest Weasley brother. In the wake of Ron and Neville being "caught" by Severus Snape in the area where Fluffy had been located early that morning, an emergency house meeting had been called by Minerva to discuss what was going on. Everyone was gathered around the common room - including the balcony of the fifth floor where the older students were normally quartered - listening in on what was going on. The looks of many of the people ranged from upset to murderous. Given what the deputy headmistress had said about how this had happened, all that was very much focused on Ron; Neville was, given his innate shyness and apparent lack of visible magical skills, currently seen more or less as a victim of the other boy's bad behaviour. "Since when, Ron?" he asked.

"Since he declared you to be his second in his scheduled duel with Draco Malfoy in the trophy room after Astronomy class, Harry," a voice then explained.

Harry gazed on Parvati Patil, and then he sighed as he turned back to glare intently at Ron. "Young Master Weasley, do you perchance remember what I said when you insulted everyone in our year in Slytherin the first week we were here?" he then asked in a voice that was full of ice as people perked on noting his formal tone of address.

"What's that got to do with it?" Ron demanded.

"_**RONALD!**_"

He jolted on hearing Percy's voice, and then he cringed as the older boy came up to glare intently at him. "Since our dunderheaded housemate seems to be trying his best to ignore what Harry's been saying all along, I'll quote what he said that day," Brianna then said. "'This man _does not_ and _will never_ speak for me.'"

Ron jerked. "Miss Spinks," Minerva then said in a very cool tone. "I do not appreciate your insult towards your own housemate." Ron brightened on seeing the transfiguration mistress turn her wrath on one of the stupid busybody girls who had been constantly distracting Harry away from what he SHOULD be doing . . . a look which then disappeared as Minerva then turned to glare at him, which made his knees buckle. "But despite that, I am forced to agree with you concerning Mister Weasley's behaviour concerning Mister Potter and this 'friendship' between them. Mister Weasley, who on Earth gives you the right to dictate ANYTHING concerning Mister Potter?"

"I HAVE to be his friend!" Ron snapped.

People blinked. "You HAVE to?" Percy demanded. "Who made you think that?"

The youngest Weasley jolted, and then he flustered for a moment before a hand landed on his shoulder. "You've been asked a question, young man," Thérèse then said. "I suggest if you don't want to risk suspension from the school, you answer it."

Ron paled, and then he jerked before he then froze, his skin going white, and then he collapsed in a dead faint. "Ron!" Harry called out as he knelt down beside the fallen redhead, and then he yanked out his wand as he whispered a basic diagnostic charm taught to him by Hamilton St. John in his lessons in field healing the previous summer. A second later, a ghostly parchment then appeared before his face. As he scanned over it, his face then paled as the implications sank in. "Oh, _damn_ . . .!"

Brianna and Aesup were quick to see what was written there. "I'll call Sir Peter!" the former then said. "Aesup, get Madame Pomfrey!"

"_Ne!_"

As the Korean witch sprinted to a side fireplace to get the internal floo working and get Poppy down from the hospital wing, Brianna lunged over to the main fireplace, tossing powder from her pocket into it. "_**REEVETOR PHEAIRT!**_"

"Brianna, why . . .?" Minerva began.

"Who is it?" a deep voice then boomed out of the fireplace.

"It's Brianna Spinks, Uncle Peter!" Brianna called back. "We've got a case of mana-compulsio here at Hogwarts; the Gryffindor dorms!"

As people around them began to gasp and ask each other questions about it, the face in the magical fire grimaced. "Step aside, lass! I'm coming through!"

Brianna backed off as the flames flared, allowing a man in a familiar black cloak - and a coat of arms over his heart quite similar to what they had seen on Matilda Godwine when she had brought in everyone from Rhosan Green in September - to step into the common room. Seeing him, Minerva smiled. "Good afternoon, Sir Peter," she said with a polite nod of her head. "Sorry to have you come here today."

"Lucky thing for all of you that Albus agreed to have all the central dorm fireplaces linked to my home, Minerva," Peter Young said with a smile and a wink before he moved to kneel down beside the still-unconscious Ron. He appeared to be Minerva's age, possessing very short-cut silver-shot black hair and deep hazel eyes on a very fleshly face; he was a very tall and heavily-built man. "What happened here, Harry?"

"I don't know, Uncle Peter," Harry admitted as the Magical Sheriff of old Perth County began his own diagnostics. "He was being asked why he was trying to make me take him in as a friend when he fainted. I did the basic first aid field diagnostics like Uncle Hamilton taught me to do and I recognised the readout for mana-compulsio."

"What's 'mana-compulsio,' Harry?" Percy asked.

"It's a unique form of magical self-hypnosis, young man," Peter explained as he finished his own diagnostics just as the other fireplace's floo flared to allow Poppy Pomfrey to walk in. "It's not been accepted as a real mental disease of sorts by the good folks at Saint Mungo's, but I've seen this sort of behaviour from time to time."

"Where at?" Poppy asked as she drew out her wand to do her own scan.

"Usually with people who've been long convinced by others over a protracted period of time - usually without any sort of counter-argument provided by anyone that could have been enough to prevent the victim from using their own magic to make them do this to themselves - to behave in a certain way and do things that would be seen as not just 'normal' to them, but vital. Almost to the point where if they couldn't do anything towards fulfilling their wishes, their magic will backlash on themselves."

Gasps filled the room. "Oh, Merlin!" Minerva exclaimed.

"How would this affect Ronald?" Percy demanded, his skin turning pale as his mind tried to wrap around what had just been discovered. Much that he was determined to make a life for himself in the Ministry of Magic after he graduated from school in a couple of years, he was still strongly loyal to his family. "The only thing he's been doing that could be seen as disagreeable is try to force his will on Harry!" he added.

Peter blinked as he took that in, and then he sighed. "That could be it."

"What do you mean?" Fred asked.

Quickly noting the visible relationship between his questioner and the victim, Peter took a deep breath. "Harry's sister Rose told me about what she had to do to make your mother back off towards trying to influence the lad like she wanted to do," he stated. "How was she like with your brother while he was growing up?"

The elder Weasley brothers exchanged looks, and then George shrugged. "She was always harping on all of us about our friendship with Harry's family," he explained. "She always stated it was her hope that since Harry was orphaned - and back then, we didn't know a thing about his sister, much less where Harry was living - that Harry would be made part of the family when he grew up. A marriage with our sister Ginny . . . " He then paused as his eyes widened. "Oh, Merlin! You don't mean . . .?"

Peter smirked. "Watch." He then whispered the words to perform the Neuwied Test on the unconscious Ron. A moment later, a ghostly parchment appeared. "One hundred and sixty-one points. Good score for the lad," he stated before dispersing the parchment. "Given how easily people's behaviour can be influenced in the early years of their lives - especially if people around him, such as his parents, possess very strong personalities - it's been the theory concerning mana-compulsio that when the victim is magically strong, anyone who is able to influence the victim's behaviour ends up making the victim's magic literally force itself onto the victim's mind . . . "

"To make him do whatever he thinks is 'right' despite all logical protests to the contrary," Poppy finished for the visiting Magical Sheriff, her eyes widening.

A nod. "Indeed."

"What is happening here?"

Everyone turned as the main doors into the common room opened. "Professor!" Hermione called out as Albus came inside, followed by Severus and Filius.

"Hello, Albus," Peter said as he straightened himself.

The headmaster perked. "Peter? What are you doing here?"

"A rather unusual case," Peter replied . . .

* * *

The Hospital Wing, hours later . . .

"_**I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS CLAPTRAP! THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH MY BOY!**_"

Before she could demand anything further, Molly Weasley jolted as a virtual wall appeared before her, making her look up into the scowling face of one Peter Young. "Mrs. Weasley, I personally don't GIVE A DAMN about what you do and don't believe!" the Magical Sheriff of Perth icily declared, which made Molly quake as she took a fearful step away from him. "Your son fainted when he was asked to reveal why is it he's been such a pain-in-the-arse to Harry Potter since they first came here in September. That in and of itself should indicate to any sane person that something's wrong. Hence, the reason I've asked the good doctors now examining the lad to come in and look him over."

Molly shuddered as she quickly tried to recover. "A Healer at Saint Mungo's would do just as well! Why should I trust any of these crackpots?" She scornfully nodded towards the three healers - among them Hamilton St. John - who were hovering over the still-unconscious Ron. All of them were making use of very strange magical pentagrams floating in the air that were flashing things in some odd alphabet she couldn't begin to understand. What was worse, Poppy wasn't doing a thing to object to such odd magic being used on what was HER patient; she was actually seated beside her old schoolmate as he explained to her all the things about what he was doing.

Before she could say anything else, a hand landed on her shoulder. "In case you've forgotten, Healer St. John was the man who helped you deliver Bill, Charlie, Percy and the twins," Arthur Weasley stated as he glared at his wife. "That's some thanks to a man you wanted to ask to be their godfather when you were in the hospital."

Molly winced on hearing that. Nearby, Albus shook her head. "Molly, please. The healers at Saint Mungo's are quite exceptional, but Hamilton, Iaso and Vejovis are all experienced healers who've had to work most often with those of our countrymen who elected to live among the muggles full-time. They've all seen things over the years that people such as Iaso's cousin Hippocrates could never hope to experience." As Molly shuddered, the headmaster gave her his most kind smile. "Please. Clearly, Harry and Peter believe something is very wrong with your son. They trust these people; Hamilton, after all, is one of the magical guardians of Harry's own sister."

The Weasley matriarch shuddered before she turned away. "Yes, you are right about that, Albus," Hamilton then said as he dispersed his scanning pentagram and stood up, nodding to Iaso Smethwyck and Vejovis Pye before he walked over to join Peter and Ron's parents. "The lad has considerable potential magically. But thanks to a really bungled-up attempt at putting a child's cap on his magical core, it's going to be a while before he could really tap into it and make a life for himself."

"WHAT?" Molly shrieked.

"What do you mean?" Albus demanded.

Hamilton turned to glare intently at Molly, which made the latter cringe as the former's dark brown eyes seemed to bore into her. "Molly, who on Earth was it that put that child's cap on your son's magical core?" he then demanded. "It was too shoddy a job for anyone trained in Saint Mungo's to be responsible for. Was it you?"

She huffed. "And if it WAS me, so what?" she icily demanded, which made Poppy gasp in shock. "Why should you stick your nose into my family's business?"

The retired military surgeon blinked before he shook his head. "You foolish woman! It's a damned wonder that your poor boy didn't lose his magic altogether! What in God's Name were you thinking, trying to do something you had no idea about?"

"I knew eno- . . .!"

"_**YOU KNEW NOTHING!**_"

Molly was nearly blasted down by that thunderous roar, which made even Albus and Peter stare in admiration at Hamilton as Iaso and Vejovis both stood and walked over to join him. "You stupid woman," Hamilton hissed out before he stared at his colleagues. "Your opinions concerning the young lad, Doctors?" he then formally asked.

Iaso - a peer of Pomona Sprout and Matilda Godwine; she was currently the senior-most of four healers now living among the magicals currently residing in the old counties of Caithness and Sutherland, at the northern tip of Scotland - sniffed before she glared at Molly. "I would gladly consider this a form of child abuse, Doctor St. John," she said, the chill in her voice not sharp enough to cover the sucked-in breath of air from Arthur or Molly's squawk of protest. "No doubt, given what was happening during the time immediately after Ronald's birth - given the fact that any of Riddle's traitors would have targeted any of the Weasleys given their parents' membership in the Order of the Phoenix - when the boy began showing accidental magic, his mother felt it more prudent to do the child's cap herself than risk transporting him to Saint Mungo's or any Ministry-registered healer to have it done there."

"I have to concur with that, Doctor," Vejovis - he was actually one of Arthur's and Molly's peers; as he was normal-born, he had been one of the first group to be targeted by the Magical Sheriffs (in his case, it was Calvin Hobbes) to take the Loyal Oath to protect him from the Muggleborn Registration Act - then added. Currently, he was the only healer serving the magicals now living in the old county of Renfrew, located to the southwest of Glasgow on the southern shores of the Firth of Clyde. "It was good intentions, but poorly executed. And I have to ask, Molly: Why on Earth didn't you get your son to Saint Mungo's after Riddle was dealt with to get him checked out?" he asked as he glared at her. "Did you do this to Ginny, too?"

Molly winced, which told all three visiting doctors what they needed to know. "_Mudbrain_ . . .!" Hamilton hissed out, which made Molly jolt as she glared at him. He ignored that as he turned to Peter. "The lad's going to need some intensive care to get his magic and his mind back in proper order, Peter." He glared once more at Molly. "I shudder to think what his sister might be going through right now."

"Indeed," Peter stated with a cold voice.

"Healer St. John, Ron CAN recover from this, can't he?" Arthur then asked.

"With time and no interference from amateurs who have no damned idea what they are doing to the poor boy, he can, Arthur," Hamilton stated. "And I want to see your daughter as well to make sure she hasn't suffered because of this, too. I'll ask Rose to come by your home sometime next week to have Ginny brought to my office."

Molly jolted. "I will not . . .!"

"_**ENOUGH!**_"

She winced as she turned to stare wide-eyed at her husband. "Arthur . . .?"

"That's enough!" he snapped, which made her wince even more. "These people have taken very sacred oaths! Just like every other healer, mediwizard and mediwitch we've ever met have done, Molly! How could you NOT trust them to do the right thing for our boy? If they can help Ron get over his problems - problems YOU caused him! - that's all for the better! Now, let's leave our son to the experts and we'll hopefully have him back with us whole and hale before long!" To Hamilton. "Healer St. John, would you ask the Dame Magistrate Potter to contact us via Floo when she's ready to come over to pick up Ginny so she could see you so this can be done as soon as possible?"

A nod. "No problem, Arthur. I'll have her come on Wednesday after breakfast."

Arthur smiled. "We'll be expecting her. Molly?"

Molly winced on sensing the warning tone in her husband's voice, and then she meekly shuffled out of the Hospital Wing with him. Watching her go, Albus tried not to grin too much as he walked over to join the healers and Peter as they headed back to Ron's bed. "I must confess one good thing about this incident," he noted.

"What's that?" Hamilton asked.

"As I'm sure Vejovis can certainly verify, Molly has always been overwhelmingly overbearing when it comes to those things she sees she must care for," the headmaster said as the healers all took their places around their patient's bed to finish up their examination and prepare the necessary notes for treatment. "No matter how much people have tried to make her see reason, she won't move when she's made up her mind about anything. But in recent weeks, given what people have done to her . . . "

"I can agree to that!" Vejovis stated as he shook his head before calling up his scanning pentagram to continue his look into Ron's head. "I always thought she had a wand staff stuck up her backside with the way she acted around people at times. I doubted even a swift boondocker up there would make her see the light."

"She never had to deal with Rose Potter," Hamilton noted.

"Hamilton, is Rose really that bad?" Poppy asked her old classmate.

The doctor grinned as he gave her a playful wink before turning back to his work. "Poppy, once my goddaughter classifies you as a 'dunderhead' or a 'mudbrain,' it will take a virtual miracle from God Himself to get you off that list! Given how much power that she inherited from Glaston . . . well, that is a VERY stupid place to be!"

Poppy and Albus both snickered . . .

* * *

The Great Hall, Sunday 1 December, breakfast . . .

"It was a botched-up binding of his magical core, Harry?" Theodore asked.

Harry nodded. Everyone was gathered at the end of the Slytherin table to enjoy breakfast. "Yeah, Theo. Uncle Hamilton was really shocked to see how badly it affected Ron when they got him to the Hospital Wing." He sipped his juice as he shook his head. "Much that I can't stand the guy's attitudes, now that I KNOW it was because of his mudbrain of a mother . . . " He shook his head as people around him laughed.

"So what does your sister's godfather have in mind?" Draco wondered.

"He'll need a full-time tutor for the next while to get him back up to speed on all his subjects," Thérèse said. Once she had learned about the rules concerning where people could sit when they had meals in the Great Hall, she immediately elected to go wherever Harry and his friends sat. That had caused some of the older students - especially those of her "peers" from the seventh-years - to gaze quizzically at her, some quietly whispering to each other as they tried to speculate on what the new kid on the block found so fascinating about the freshmen. "I've already been asked by Professor McGonagall to help with his tutorials. I wish I could do more, though."

The others all nodded, not taking notice of Chikage's raised eyebrow . . .

* * *

The Vanished Wing, after breakfast . . .

"What seems to be bothering you?"

Thérèse perked on hearing that question, and then she took a deep breath before she closed her eyes again. She was currently attempting to meditate in the middle of the dōjō right in front of the picture of _Ō-Sensei_, with Chikage seated to her right and facing her. Given that she was doing it inside the dōjō, the traveller had seen to it she would be properly adorned in an aikidōgi and hakama; both had been provided by the castle's matron elves. "I've been feeling a bit odd for the last while."

"Define 'odd,'" the traveller bade.

The blonde soul-replica of the Dark Lord took a deep breath. "I knew from the instant I awoke in this body and learned what I was that I might be able to sense _him_ since he's supposedly now in the castle going after the Stone. So I've been keeping a mental 'eye' out wherever he could be hiding. But for the last week or so . . . "

"You've sensed something else?"

A nod. "_Hai_," she replied in Japanese, which made the man in the picture before her nod in approval. "Something in the academic wing. Somewhere that's always up from me, even if I'm doing my private studies in the library or tutoring someone."

Chikage hummed. "The Room of Requirement, then."

Thérèse blinked. "The Room of what?"

"The Room of Requirement, Thérèse. A magical holodeck, in other words." Given Thérèse's long time spent in a form of mental hibernation inside Harry's head, she had considerable knowledge of all the things that had interested him, especially after he had moved to Beckery Hill and began living alongside his sister. "Let's go up there and see if we can try to trace down whatever's perked your senses."

Thérèse blinked, and then she nodded . . .

* * *

Above the library, minutes later . . .

"I wish to find Tom Riddle's spirit-replica located within your walls.

"I wish to find Tom Riddle's spirit-replica located within your walls.

"I wish to find Tom Riddle's spirit-replica located within your walls . . . "

Thérèse blinked as she watched Chikage repeat herself as she paced before the painting of Barnabas the Barmy. After the third full circuit, she then gaped as a door appeared across the hallway from Barnabas' portrait. Before she could wonder how on Earth that had been possible - as Tom Riddle, Thérèse believed she knew practically every hidden corner of the ancient castle outside the Vanished Wing - Chikage leaned over and opened the door to look inside before she paused, and then she sighed. "Oh, delightful," the traveller mused as she put her fists to her hips.

Thérèse looked inside, and then she blinked. "What a rubbish heap!"

And indeed, the Room was certainly that now. With cabinets scattered all over the space, the floor was cluttered with hundreds upon hundreds of objects of every possible magical shape, size and description. As Chikage walked inside and scanned around the Room with both eyes and her _ki_ senses, Thérèse drew her wand - a holly wand with a mixed ebony/ruby meson core; Tamsin Gaunt had arranged to get it for her a week after she had awoken in her new body from Nigel Scabior - and held it high in the air. "_Accio_ . . .!" she began before she paused, blinking as she then looked lost.

Chikage gave her a sympathetic look. "Tom hid that from you, I take it."

"Um . . . y-yeah!" Thérèse said, a flustered look appearing on her face.

The traveller nodded as she drew her own wand. "Well, let's try it THIS way, then," she said as she raised her wand. "_Camera Mesonium Noir Revelio!_"

Energy burst free from the tip of her wand to radiate to every corner of the Room. A second later, a large puff of dark smoke emitted from somewhere close to the southeast corner of the Room, which made Chikage smile. "At least he didn't predict someone doing _that_ to try to trace down one of his creations," she mused as she made her way through the junk collected up in the Room to where the smoke had emerged.

Thérèse followed her, her eyes scanning to both sides as she took in all the things had had been hidden in this place over the years. Distracted by the amount of material that was here, it became more than understandable when she nearly knocked Chikage over when she ran into the traveller where she was standing, staring in shock at the object atop a desk nearly hidden under stacked chairs and stools. "Ah! Sorry about . . .!" Thérèse gasped before she looked over, and then gaped. " . . . that?"

Chikage blinked before she chuckled as she walked up to peer at the lovely Ænglisc script written along the bottom edges of the two wings of the gold skeletal diadem encrusted with diamonds on the ribs and a bird's head over an amethyst gemstone which formed the "body" of the raven the diadem was shaped to represent, from which flowed a "tail" of linked pearls. "'_Ormǽte gleawnes is maþm déorwíerþost_,'" she then read the words before she gazed knowingly at her current companion.

Thérèse smiled. "'Wit beyond measure is Man's greatest treasure.'"

"Indeed it is," the traveller noted as she passed her hand over the diadem as she allowed her _ki_ senses to reach out to see if there were any other surprises guarding this relic other than an anti-summoning ward. Noting nothing that she could detect, she then took a deep breath. "Alright, then," she mused before stepping back and aiming the palm of her hand at the gemstone in the middle of the diadem.

"_**SEISHIN-HASAI HI-KŌSEN!**_"

A burst of green energy lashed out to slam into the diadem, eliciting a pained shriek as black smoke then billowed from the amethyst, it then forming a barely-humanoid face. "_**HOW DARE YOU?**_" the creature bellowed.

Thérèse instantly levelled her wand and whispered a containment spell to ensure the spirit now getting its non-corporeal "body" shredded by the Spirit-Breaker Fire-Light didn't flee, much less try to possess the traveller. Sensing that, the creature then howled in shock before it focused its burning crimson eyes on the older woman now containing it with her spell. "_**RELEASE ME! I AM LORD VOLDEMORT! RELEASE ME NOW, WOMAN, AND I WILL MAKE YOUR DEATH QUICK AND PAINLESS! DO YOU HEAR ME?**_"

"Yes, _brother dear_!" Thérèse said with a mirthless smile as she focused her magic through the wand into keeping the writhing spirit in place. "But not just yet!"

Silence.

"_**'BROTHER?' WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?**_"

"Does the word 'horcrux' mean anything to you, Tom?"

More silence.

The creature spun its eyes around to glare intently at the young girl that was now hurting it with that weird not-magic that was presently trying to burn it out of what had been its home for well over forty years. "_**HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT? WHO ARE YOU, ANYWAY? STOP THAT RIGHT THIS INSTANT, GIRL, OR I'LL . . .!**_"

"_**KONTŌ!**_"

Thérèse gasped as Chikage's free hand instantly formed a VERY familiar energy weapon as the traveller allowed her other hand to close, dispersing the spirit-shredding beam she had used to awaken the trapped spirit within the diadem.

"You'll do _what_?" Chikage asked, a knowing smile crossing her face.

Even more silence.

"_Ryū- . . . Ryūji . . .?_" the spirit then eeped, a mixture of healthy fear and hope in its voice as the traveller relaxed herself, dispersing the soulsword.

"I'm his granddaughter, Chikage," the traveller then introduced herself. "Now, Tom, I'm sure you've got a lot of questions you want to ask and I seriously doubt that you - just like your two 'sisters' we've found over the last month or so; Thérèse here being one of them . . . " - she waved to the blonde woman beside her in emphasis - " . . . would like to remain trapped inside a diadem for the rest of your existence, so if you will kindly NOT try to possess me, I'll let you probe into my mind so we don't have to spend hours on hours trying to get all the explanations out into the open."

With that, she picked up the diadem and moved to place it on her forehead. "While I'm updating your sister here on what's going on, Thérèse, go floo-call Tamsin so we can get another body up here for her to use," she then instructed the other woman in the room. "Tell Tamsin's friends to get in contact with whoever arranged for your non-magical identification to get to work on making an identity for her to use."

"Right." And with that, Thérèse was running out of the Room.

"_Um . . . Chikage?_"

A sigh. "Yes, Tom?"

"_Why did you call her my 'sister?'_"

Another sigh, and then the traveller placed the diadem on her forehead. "That is a bit of a long story, Tom. So relax and let it come to you . . . "

_**To be continued . . .**_


	24. Ravenclaw's Diadem and Tara Fronsac

The Great Hall, dinnertime . . .

"So where's Chikage?"

Harry perked on hearing that concerned question from Mòrag MacDougall, and then he shrugged as he took his place at the Ravenclaw table, his friends sitting as food began to appear before them. "I haven't seen her since breakfast, Mòrag. Guys?"

"Not us," Marian said as the girls all shook their heads. "Last time I saw her, she was going into the Vanished Wing to do some meditation exercises with Thérèse."

The others all perked on hearing that, and then Pansy turned as the doors opened, revealing the traveller in question. "Oh, there she . . . WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME . . .?" she then cried out as she noticed the black pillow in Chikage's hand.

And the glittering diadem now nestled in the fabric there.

Heads cranked over as people registered Pansy's surprised shout, and then as more eyes - especially those of people who normally wore blue-and-bronze on their uniform ties - locked in on what was currently in Chikage's hand, people began to gasp and whisper as their minds quickly added two and two to get four. Finally, Roger Davies - a third year in Ravenclaw who had been sitting with Cho Chang and several other friends at the Hufflepuff table - got up to walk over and stare intently at the diadem for a moment before he turned to everyone else. "It's the Lost Diadem!" he called out. "Chikage's found Mistress Rowena's diadem! The Diadem's been found!"

Hearing that, everyone blinked before a wild scream of delight escaped all the Ravenclaws there as people got to their feet and moved to gather around the traveller as cameras came out to take pictures of her holding the long-lost treasure of her grandfather's house. Among them coming up were Filius Flitwick and Albus Dumbledore. People quickly pulled away to allow the charms master and the headmaster through. As the diminutive Filius came to a stop before the glittering diadem, he blinked as his eyes suddenly teared, and then he drew his wand to wave over it, whispering the incantations to several very ancient scanning charms as he moved to probe the object. A moment later, a ghostly parchment appeared over the diadem, words in Old English written there. Scanning what had been revealed, he blinked before he smiled at Chikage, his eyes twinkling with delight and understanding before he turned to everyone else, all who were as still as statues, holding their breaths in anticipation.

"It is the Diadem," he solemnly declared.

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

Another wild howl of joy echoed through the Hall as all the Ravenclaws broke out in spontaneous celebrations, shaking hands and hugging each other as relieved laughter and whoops of joy filled the air around them. As everyone else all stood to applaud what had happened - prompted, of course, by Harry and his clique, followed by all the other first years that were not now gathered around Chikage - Albus then smiled before he allowed his wand to send out a _Baubillious_ burst to make everyone quiet down. As people turned towards him and the noise died away, the headmaster took a deep breath. "My friends, let us all rejoice in the wonderful find Miss Hirosaki has made for all her schoolmates," he declared as Filius took the pillow holding the Diadem from the traveller and moved to carry it back to the head table. "Now, I do believe . . . "

"No points."

Silence.

"Chikage?" Mòrag gasped, her jaw dropping in shock.

Albus gazed on the traveller. "Are you sure, my dear?"

A light smile crossed her face. "It is _giri_, Professor," she declared. "Now, if you will all kindly excuse me, I'd like to have something to eat."

With that, she made her way over to join her friends; Harry was quick to get to his feet to draw out an empty chair for her. "B-but . . . " Roger sputtered.

"Roger!" Cho snapped. "She made her decision! Respect it!"

"But Cho . . .!" Shanessa Fawcett, a second year in Ravenclaw, began.

"ENOUGH! She's made her choice, Shan! Leave her be!"

"_**THAT'S ENOUGH!**_"

Everyone jolted, and then they turned to Filius, who was staring intently at them. "You are all supposed to be the spiritual heirs and heiresses of Mistress Rowena, not a bunch of squabbling, immature children!" the charms master declared. "What are you supposed to do when you encounter something you don't understand?"

The Ravenclaws all winced on hearing his harsh admonishment. "We research it," Roger then admitted as an embarrassed flush crossed his face.

"Indeed. Therefore, so that you all won't make such an appalling gaffe again when it comes to our old housemate's granddaughter, I declare that the first person, regardless of year, who can research AND properly comprehend what _giri_ means - WITHOUT BADGERING MISS HIROSAKI ABOUT IT! - will get extra credit on their academic score in History of Magic!" He then smiled at Veronica Roper, who was nodding her permission. "For the second years, this is something you HAVE to concentrate on since studying international relations is part of your syllabus this year! Now, let's put an end to this disgusting display and return to our meal! There'll be a house meeting about the Diadem tonight after supper! Make sure you're all there to attend."

People nodded as they returned to their seats.

* * *

Watching this from his position at the head table, Severus could only smile as he gazed knowingly at Chikage, who was relaxing in her chair and enjoying a cup of tea. As Albus returned to his chair, the potions master sent him a knowing look. The older man acknowledged same with a smile and a particular twinkle in his eyes. With that, Severus relaxed as he returned back to his own meal, a touch of urgency filling him.

No doubt, there was now a NEW resident of the castle in the Vanished Wing . . .

* * *

At his place at the head table, a shuddering Quirinus Quirrell was trying not to leap out of his chair and race out of the Great Hall, though the temptation - prompted by the tsunami of sheer TERROR emanating from the other soul concealed within his body thanks to the turban on his head - was almost becoming overwhelming. As he tried to sip his tea while fighting the urge to NOT stare wide-eyed at the Lost Diadem, he did his best to ignore the ranting and wailing voice echoing deep in his mind.

_SHE KNOWS!_

_ SHE KNOWS!_

_ SHE KNOWS!_

_ She knows . . .!_

* * *

The Vanished Wing, later . . .

"Are they ALL beautiful like this, Chrystal?"

Chrystal Taggart smiled as she relaxed in her chair in the southwest classroom, a cup of tea in her hand. She had just come up with Tamsin Gaunt a couple hours before thanks to the new floo connection that now linked the main hall of the Vanished Wing with the Ghost Riders' house in East Hampshire. They had not come up alone, of course.

"Yeah, 'Mione, they all are," she admitted as she nodded to the tall and slender woman, who was now seated in front of a mirror conjured for her by Tamsin and Thérèse so she could look at herself. Harry was now standing behind her, taking his time to braid her long strawberry blonde hair into a high bun in the same style Chikage wore her hair. Watching him from their seats, the Icemaidens, Hermione and their friends from Slytherin - Pansy, Daphne, Tracey and Millicent had been told the secret about Voldemort's "horcruxi" and how that related to Thérèse Peverell a week before - were agog at the idea of Harry (a _boy_ of all things, Boy-Who-Lived-And-Vanished or not!) having the skill to style a woman's head of hair . . . and do it GENTLY! "Then again, with what Chikage told us about how this stuff works . . . "

"Since the meson in Uncle Regulus' Dark Mark decided to remould all the inferi in that lake into perfect physical mates for him to have children with, making ugly women would defeat the purpose of the exercise," Pansy finished for the visiting biker.

Chrystal nodded, a smile crossing her face. By then, Harry had finished with the newly-woken woman's hair. "There you go, Tara! How do you like it?"

Tara - she had been given the full name "Tara Helena Fronsac," which made her a spiritual "descendant" of a Ravenclaw alumni who had been Headmaster of Hogwarts from 1891 to 1902; Basil Fronsac had been Phineas Black's immediate successor to the post and was succeeded by two others before the post fell onto Armando Dippet's shoulders in 1930 - blinked, and then she blushed as she reached up to run her fingers through her hair. Like Tamsin and Thérèse, Tara (who had agreed to Chikage's proposal for her first name; her middle name was chosen in honour of the woman Tom Riddle tricked into revealing the location of the Lost Diadem so he could use it to ultimately create her) had sparkling blue eyes emanating from a well-sculptured face, which were now under round-frame bifocals. She was in a dark green _qípáo_ - what most in the West would think of by the name "Mandarin gown" or "cheongsam" - with a mixture of animal symbols on it; one of the matron elves had created it for her on Chikage's asking, modelling it on one of Sǔ Lì's dresses. "It's fine, Harry. Thank you," she said in a more steady voice than what she felt right now deep in her soul, and then she turned to give him a thank-you kiss on his cheek, which made his face turn cherry red in embarrassment.

All the girls seeing this laughed. "So how soon will Mister Panchal be able to properly establish Tara's identity in the normal world, Miss Taggart?" Albus asked. All the "in the know" professors were present at this meeting,

"Give it four days, and then I'll bring up her wallet," Chrystal said before she finished her tea, and then she nodded thanks as one of the kitchen elves popped into the room to refill her cup. "Tammy will make sure Tara gets her wand."

"Will we do to Miss Fronsac as we did for Miss Peverell, Albus?" Filius asked.

"What?" Tara asked.

"Become a Free Witch Apprentice of the school," Thérèse provided.

Tara blinked. "You mean like Lord Ælfweard was . . .?"

Thérèse nodded. "I got sorted into Gryffindor when I was accepted as one."

Tara and Tamsin both gaped. "_**WHAT?**_" they exclaimed.

Both were instantly in Thérèse's face as they glared at her. "You got yourself sorted into GRYFFINDOR?" Tara bellowed. "You TRAITOR! What's the matter with you?"

"It's easy, Tara!" Tamsin teased as she gave her newly-woken sister a knowing look. "Thérèse here wants to be the first lady to get into Harry's boxers!"

"Oh, really?" Tara trilled as she returned that look.

All the adults in the room fell over laughing as all the girls save Chikage found themselves blushing. "_**HEY!**_" Thérèse and Harry yelped together.

_Pop!_ "You silly girls shouldn't THINK of something like that about Master Harry!" an annoyed woman's voice then snapped. "Shame on you all!"

Everyone's heads snapped over to gaze in surprise - save for Chikage, who had a knowing smile on her face - at the brown-haired human-shaped house elf that had just teleported into the room. "Bessie! What are you doing here?" Severus asked.

Bessie Bunter smiled as she picked up the rather BIG milkshake she had just made and hand it to a now quite-confused Tara. "Well, ever since Mistress Chikage has gone on this rather interesting crusade to find all of the Dark Lord's so-called 'horcruxi' to give them new lives as magical bioroids, Master Severus, I've been keeping an eye up here to make sure they're not forced to consume something that won't agree with their stomachs until they're ready to eat the normal food here," she said with a sweet smile before she turned to leave, her smile then turning saucy. "And by the way, everyone: The person who will have the pleasure of finally making Master Harry a man will be ME!"

_Pop!_ And away she went, leaving behind a chorus of gaping looks and dropped jaws as the brains of almost everyone present nearly short-circuited.

Chikage, of course, was trying not to fall over laughing . . .

* * *

The Hospital Wing, Monday 2 December, last period before lunch . . .

"You mean it was MOM that made my magic do that to me?"

Chikage sighed. "I'm afraid so, Ronald," she said as she crossed her arms. She and the other Icemaidens were seated around his bed; he had woken up from his magically-induced slumber earlier that morning, hungry and very confused. "She no doubt didn't wish to risk your life taking you to Saint Mungo's to have that child's cap put on your magical core since you began exhibiting accidental magic quite early in your life, so she studied it and applied the cap on herself." She then shook her head. "Of course, since she wasn't a trained healer or mediwizard, some of her spells were cast the wrong way, which ended up rebounding on you. Forcing you to focus your mind on things that she wanted you only to focus on. Which, no doubt, centered on . . . "

"Harry?"

All seven girls there nodded. "How did your family learn about what happened between your parents and Harry's parents?" Brianna then asked.

The youngest Weasley brother blinked before he lay back on his bed. "Well, our parents and Harry's parents were best mates in the fight against You-Know-Who," he said. "Mom and Dad - especially Mom - didn't trust Sirius Black at all 'cause of his family. Turns out she was right; thank Merlin that Addie Riel got raised in Canada with her mom and grandparents." He shook his head. "They didn't like it when Minister Bagnold forced Remus Lupin away from Harry 'cause he was a werewolf; he was a pretty okay bloke. They wanted to help him after Harry's parents died since he was having a problem holding jobs 'cause of what he was, but they couldn't find him. Didn't have much time to find him, either, especially since they were so busy raising all of us, I guess." A sigh. "All I wanted to do - especially after Harry vanished like he did - was just be his best mate. Yeah, he's the Boy-Who-Lived! Who wouldn't want to be the best mate of the Boy-Who-Lived? He's a hero to us all! And he was made to live with the muggles to make sure none of You-Know-Who's gits got him! So he wouldn't know a thing about bein' back where he should've been all along! I HAD to help him!"

"Amazing you didn't get sorted into Hufflepuff, Ron!" Jane noted.

Ron snorted. "No offense, Jane, but I couldn't see myself as a 'Puff!"

"Ron, you wanted to help someone you believed needed help. That's part of what being a 'Puff's all about," Marian advised him, a knowing smile crossing her face. "After all, you're friends with Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott, right?" On seeing Ron nod, she shrugged. "They're 'Puffs! You've got no problems with them, do you?"

"'Course not! They're good people!"

"So what makes Melli and me so different?" Achelois asked.

"You're Slytherins!"

"And what makes Slytherins so bad?" Chikage wondered.

"They're evil!"

"Where's your proof?"

Silence.

"W-well . . . " Ron stammered.

The traveller sighed. "Ronald, I will not disagree with you on the point that many of the people who either became dark lords or who supported such dark lords throughout British history did arise from Slytherin if they attended this school," she stated. "But Sirius Black - who was the best friend to James Potter, Harry's father - was a Gryffindor. And look what he supposedly did. There are others - alumni from ALL the houses of Hogwarts - who have allowed the darkness to overtake them. Even if Tom Riddle, for example, was sorted elsewhere, the chances were very good that he would have still evolved into what he became eventually. I myself could have been sorted into Slytherin; I think myself quite ambitious considering what I plan to do with myself while I'm travelling. So could my grandfather, believe it or not. One has to be VERY ambitious if one is willing to cross dimensional barriers - and go back in time (as I did) - to learn different forms of magic and incorporate those different ideas into one's life. THAT is the core of the Slytherin creed, not pureblood mania."

Ron flustered. "Well . . . "

A hand landed on his shoulder. "Remember Hermione's birthday party?"

He blinked, and then nodded. "Yeah."

"Remember what I told Gregory about what I have to confront when I go home?"

A gulp. "Y-yeah."

"What did I say?"

He blinked as he tried to remember what had been said, and then he sighed. "You told us that bein' scared of all the ghosts was stupid 'cause the only reason they'd be interesting in things like birthday parties and all that was because they're bored."

"And what else did I say?"

Ron frowned. "You said that fear only becomes real if you make it real."

A nod. "Exactly. After that, did you take the chance to talk to Sir Nicholas?"

"Sure I did! He's a great bloke!" Ron then shrugged. "Kinda sad, too."

"Why'd you say that?" Camellia asked.

"Well, he's always wanted to be part of the Headless Hunt. But because he didn't get his head chopped all the way off, he couldn't be part of it!" Ron then perked. "Hey, Chikage! You think that soulsword of yours could do it for him?"

"No," the traveller said as she stood. "The soulsword is designed to kill spirits. If I used it on Sir Nicholas, I'd rip his soul apart and most likely condemn him to something far worse than death as a ghost." She turned to leave. "In the meantime, we'll all have to prepare ourselves for our Herbology end terms now, so we'll leave you be and let you rest up. Oh, Thérèse will be by with her cousin Tara Fronsac - she's another Free Witch Apprentice; she just got sorted into Ravenclaw - to help tutor you for your exams so you don't go home with failing marks this Christmas, so study up, Ronald. I don't think your parents want you to fail school."

"Be a real Gryff, Ron," Brianna added. "You gotta study to pass!"

"Joy," Ron moaned as he moved to cover himself with the blankets.

All the girls laughed . . .

* * *

Beckery Hill, the Reevetor Somerset, Wednesday 4 December, before lunch . . .

"This is Harry's HOME?"

Hearing that awed gasp from the person who had just walked through the floo from the Lovegood home in Ottery Saint Catchpole, Rose tried not to groan before she turned to give Ginny Weasley an annoyed look. Noting that, Luna Lovegood tried not to grin as she gave the younger Potter sibling a smile. "Rose, even if Ginny has always been infested with wrackspurts when it comes to Harry, it doesn't mean you should be rude."

Ginny jolted at her friend's unspoken warning before she felt a pair of cold green eyes rake over her, and then she meekly bowed her head as the Magical Sheriff of Somerset waved her to the stone stairs to get to the ground level. "Um . . . so where is this place, anyway, Rose?" she timidly asked. "Dad told me that the county you look after is north of where we live, but where exactly is this place, anyway?"

"Since you haven't taken the Loyal Oath to the Crown, you're not authorised to know," Rose replied as she stepped onto the ground floor and walked through the open doorway onto the north lawn overlooking the Reevewick Somerset. "The border charms were changed to make sure you can't see beyond the borders of the magical range here, so if you ever pass this way again, you won't realise where this is."

Ginny winced again before she took a look around. Sure enough, it seemed as if some sort of fog had descended all around the property, obscuring all that was beyond the high stone fence that seemed to line the western, northern and eastern edges of the grounds; the southern side was covered by a thick forest. As she took in what was present, she was quick to note the quaint village at the bottom of the hill. Recognising how similar this place was to Hogsmeade or the magical section of her own hometown, the youngest Weasley felt herself relax as she followed Rose down the stone stairs leading from the summit of the hill by the main entrance of the Reevetor right to the village's main street. As she followed Rose into the village, she gazed at Luna. "How many times have you been here?" she asked.

"Oh, many times before Mummy died," the daughter of the late Magical Sheriff of Devon stated with a smile as they got to the level of the main street and walked onto the cobblestone pathway to the east, where Hamilton St. John's clinic was located. "I knew Rose before I met Harry when he was presented to the Queen after he came here. We're friends, but we're not as close as Harry is to Achelois Runcorn or Jane Roper."

Ginny frowned. "I've heard of them. Runcorn's a snake and Roper's a 'Puff! Why isn't Harry friends with people in his own house?"

"Oh, he is friends with people in Gryffindor," Luna affirmed. "There's Aesup Mun, Brianna Spinks and Hermione Granger. All very nice people."

"But what about Ron?"

"Well, if Ronald finds a way to chase all the wrackspurts out of his mind, Harry might like him, too," Luna then said. "Harry can be quite fair to people, but when people try to take advantage of it, he doesn't forgive them at all. It was no wonder that he got very angry at your brother for what he did to Hermione at Hallowe'en."

"At least the Icemaidens smacked him into his place," Rose noted.

Ginny tensed. "Do you know those creeps?"

"And if I did?"

"Rose!"

"WHAT?" the young Magical Sheriff snapped as she glared at Nancy Snagge.

The retired auror-turned-chief constable shook her head. "Sheathe the claws, little tiger," she said as she reached over to playfully bat Rose's nose before she gazed sympathetically at Ginny. "She hasn't been too mean to you, has she?"

Ginny shrugged as Rose grumbled under her breath. "Uncle Hamilton's clinic is through that door and up the stairs to your left," the young sheriff then said as she pointed to the building they were in front of. "Luna, when he's done with her, call me so I can take her back. I don't want her to fly into a panic when the delegation from Orestes arrives in an hour to meet the gnome delegation from Zürich. Seeing a herd of Mammut traders would freak Weasley here more than seeing a tribe of Arctic giants."

Ginny blinked while Luna gaped. "Oh, my!" the older girl said. "I've never met a Mammut! Will they be going to the community hall when they meet the gnomes?"

"Probably."

Luna gushed. "Oh, goody! I'll be able to do an article for the _Quibbler_!"

Rose laughed before she headed off. Ginny blinked again as she tried to understand what was going on, and then she stared helplessly at Nancy, who could only smile as she moved to guide the young girl into the building for her appointment . . .

* * *

So December rolled on . . .

Like Thérèse Peverell, Tara Fronsac was encouraged to begin tutoring students the instant she had been sorted into Ravenclaw - which had made her sister laugh as she later leered at her, "So who's the traitor now?" - and was welcomed as another Free Witch Apprentice to Hogwarts under Severus Snape's overall tutelage. As the end-term exams took everyone's attention, lesser-achieving members of the freshman class such as Ron Weasley, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle showed noticeable improvements in their scholastic performance, as witness the fact that when scores for the tests were posted during the last academic week, the lowest marks displayed were "poor."

Though such were seen as failing grades by the WOMBAT/OWL/NEWT standard, it was also seen as encouraging, especially given what had been discovered about Ron's magic by Hamilton St. John and his fellow healers before the turn of the month . . .

* * *

The academic wing, Wednesday 19 December, after last class . . .

"See? You CAN do it, Ron!" Tara had advised the younger man in one of the unused classrooms on the second floor after he had seen his end-term marks in the Gryffindor common room. "According to what everyone told me, before that cap on your magic was discovered, you were bound to get Troll marks in almost every subject you were taking. Look at what you actually got: an Exceeds Expectations in Charms; Acceptable marks in Transfiguration, D.A.D.A., History of Magic, and Herbology; almost got an Acceptable in Astrology; a low Poor in Potions." She held up a warning finger as she gave him a look. "We're going to be working on that during the holidays, okay?"

Ron blinked. "Why do I have to work during the holidays?" he whined.

Tara smiled. "Ron, do you think all the kids going home are just going to relax and take it easy?" she asked. "No. They've got homework to do and a lot of the kids will be taking the chance to practice spells as well. Especially the higher years because of how much they have to cram in to catch up to where Professor Roper wants them to be in History of Magic." A sigh. "Don't worry; you'll be getting chances to take a break on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. We all will be doing that. But if you don't want to eventually repeat a year, you need to pull your bootstraps up, Ron. Vince and Greg are in the same boat as you are, not to mention a good number of the people from Rhosan Green. You aren't alone in this."

He considered that for a moment, and then he sighed. "Still . . . "

"Still what?"

"What's the use of doing all these courses if I want to try to play quidditch after I graduate?" he wondered as he waved towards the quidditch pitch.

Tara gazed at him, and then she sighed. "Ron, do you think even the best professional players skimmed classes when they were here? Much less at any of the other schools across Europe?" she asked, and then she shook her head. "No. They had to work hard in their classes as well as perform well in school quidditch to get noticed by the managers and talent scouts!" As Ron gaped at her, she smiled. "Reason why is quite simple, Ron. If you show you do good in classes, that shows you're willing to dedicate yourself all the more when you play quidditch!"

He blinked. "That doesn't make sense!"

She smirked. "In a way, yes, it doesn't make sense. But look at what opportunities are starting to show up." Tara then indicated one of Ron's textbooks. "Look what just happened in Eastern Europe this last couple of months."

Ron nodded. "Yeah. The Soviet Union finally broke up. But . . . " He sat back in his chair. "What's that got to do with quidditch?"

Tara smiled. "Use that brain of yours when it comes to playing chess, Ron," she urged. "Do you know how many magic schools exist in the old Soviet Union?"

He paused to consider that; part of History of Magic classes under Veronica Roper as well as his private tutorials with Tara and Thérèse had been directed towards "current events" even if the general emphasis of the first years' course load was aimed towards understanding events before 1700. Ron then blinked before he nodded as something from one of his last classes before exams came back. "Only one school I know of: the Archidei Academy."

"Right. But what's happening now to the Soviet Union?"

"It's breaking up. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are all gone and the other ones are kinda debating over what they're gonna do now."

"So what does that mean for people like us?"

Ron frowned as he considered that, and then he blinked. "Separate ministries of magic," he then stated. "Probably separate schools, too!" A grin then crossed his face. "And they'll need separate quidditch leagues, too!"

"Right!" Tara cheered him, though she knew this was just the beginning with Ron. "Now, what do you know about the academic standards of Archidei?"

"They're pretty high," he admitted, and then he blinked. "Oh . . . "

"So you see why you have to study?" she asked. "Even if their standards aren't as high as Hogwarts, Archidei is a very hard school to graduate from. That's going to be on the minds of every quidditch player and manager that's active over there. Now, given how things might expand now that the old People's Commissariat of Magic is being broken up, the chances are there that when you DO graduate from Hogwarts, there'll be loads of places available for you to show off your skills. Not just in Russia and the other new republics, but in old Yugoslavia, too! But remember . . . "

"I gotta study," Ron completed, and then he sighed. "What about the Cannons?"

Tara stared at him, and then she sighed. _Sweet Merlin! __He really needs help . . .!_

* * *

The Vanished Wing, Friday 21 December, after supper . . .

"So ends our final class before the holidays begin. Who's staying?"

"Just me, Chikage," Tara reported as she held up her hand. Harry, Chikage, Hermione, all the Icemaidens, their four other female friends from Slytherin, Tara and Thérèse were in the dōjō kneeling after an hour's hard exercise to bleed off the excess energy the end-of-term feast had forced on all of them. The Hogwarts Express would be taking all the people who would be rejoining their families back to London tomorrow at eleven o'clock sharp. "Lots of kids need tutoring to catch up on their grades."

"I'll be popping between here and the Hill during the holidays to help out," Thérèse added. "When I'm not, I'll be available to help with the _Kokujun_ research."

"_Chikage-ya_, is it safe to keep this place open with all of your grandfather's notes in the northeast class during the holiday?" Aesup then wondered.

The traveller smiled. "I'll be changing the password at the tunnel door when we leave tonight, then pass it on to Professor Dumbledore. He'll keep it secret."

The others nodded. "What are everyone's plans for the holidays?" Pansy asked.

"There's the Yule Levée the Ministry is running on Christmas Eve at the Doge mansion," Daphne reported. "My family got invitations. Who's coming?"

Tracey and Pansy put up their hands. They then blinked as they noted that Harry's hand hadn't gone up. "Harry! Didn't you get an invitation?" Pansy asked.

He shook his head. "Haven't heard anything about it, Pansy. Nothing's come to me here at Hogwarts concerning that. And there's no way that the Ministry can send mail owls to me on the Hill; the wards there would block them from coming in to deliver anything to either me, Rose or Uncle Moony." He then moaned. "And it's a good thing, too! Given how much mail I got in the years I was gone . . .!"

The others all laughed. In the years Harry had been separated from mainstream wizarding society, Albus Dumbledore had placed a mail-redirection ward over the young man's home in Little Whinging to ensure owls wouldn't come his way until such time as he was to receive his Hogwarts letter. And while this made sure that any attempts by those who had either been Death Eaters or sympathised with their cause couldn't send harmful packages to the Boy-Who-Lived, it also made sure that a massive flock of fan-mail wouldn't swamp the poor boy. All items of mail had ultimately wound their way to one of the unused second-floor classrooms at Hogwarts to await Harry's arrival at school so he could read them in a safe environment. When Harry had switched residences to Beckery Hill in 1986, the local mail-blocking wards kept him safe from the still-high storm of mail coming his way. After he had learned the truth of the Magical Sheriffs and Rose Potter, Albus had - with Harry's consent - rebuilt the mail-redirection wards he had once established over Privet Drive around Beckery Hill to ensure that Harry would be able to enjoy his life with his family in peace and quiet. It later turned out to be necessary; several letters sent to Harry after he came to be called the "Boy-Who-Lived-and-Vanished" had complex locating charms on them that could have helped potential trackers trace down where he was living. And while Beckery Hill was quite safe from potential attack, even learning the _general_ location of Harry's new residence could have potentially done damage. Especially if someone was desperate enough to even risk an open attack at Millfield Prepatory School in a way of drawing Harry out.

Once Harry finally got to Hogwarts, he took a few weekend days in late September and early October to finally go through the massive pile of mail and packages that had been sent to him since that fateful Hallowe'en evening in 1981.

All clothing gifts - since he realistically couldn't wear them anymore - had been anonymously gifted to magical orphanages throughout the United Kingdom under the supervision of the Magical Sheriffs of London, Monmouthshire, Warwickshire, Lancashire, Midlothian and Antrim so that they could be used by those who needed them.

The piles of owl post mail was then divided into five categories: "insane" mail, "hexed" mail, "fan" mail, "polite" mail and "business" correspondence.

The first category - which normally contained wild diatribes or written abuse over what Harry had done - had been all burned, though Harry had composed a genetic response to the sender, saying in effect, "Thank you for showing me how stupid you are. Please don't write again; future letters will be sent to the _Quibbler_ to be published."

Mail that had been either hexed or charmed with tracking spells as a way of tracking Harry down had been deactivated by Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall, and then forwarded to the Magical Sheriff in charge of whichever county the sender resided in for legal action. _That_ resulted in two dozen arrests during late October and early November, the accused finding themselves - after a trial before the Magical Privy Council, of course - in the nightmarish grasp of the Hollows in "A" Block at H.M. Prison Gonebren for five years each due to violating the Magical Post Act of 1722. "A pity none of the _**real**_ morons who followed Riddle got caught, Grandpapa," Harry had lamented after the first trial had been held at the Circle of Justice (which he had learned about thanks to a letter sent from Rose via Hedwig) a week before Hallowe'en.

All fan mail was burned _en masse_ after Harry got a letter containing a rather revealing picture of a much older witch _sans_ clothing. No replies were written.

Correspondence from friendly sources were answered all at once thanks to an advertisement in the 12 October 1991 edition of the _Daily Prophet_, where Harry and Albus both explained the need to keep any mail sent to him screened from questionable sources, both then apologising for the lack of response by the Boy-Who-Lived-and-Vanished and promising that any future correspondence would get a proper response.

Business correspondence - all from Gringotts - stopped when Harry moved to Beckery Hill in 1986 and had met up with Director Erlking, who was given the chance to become the direct manager of the Potter family vaults at the bank. Those letters - which normally contained Harry's bank statements - were all burned to ensure that no one could get hold of any of them and try to come after Harry, especially if they had a potential marriage contract in hand (not that such would work thanks to Harry's Loyal Oath to the Crown, which ensured any attempts at forcing a marriage on him would fail).

"If you got an invitation, would you go?" Hermione then asked.

Harry sighed. "Personally, no," he admitted. "Besides, there's the Sheriffs' Levée that's run the very same evening. I always go there with Rose."

The others blinked. "Could we be invited?" Pansy asked.

"Anyone who's taken the Loyal Oath can come," Brianna explained. "Invitations are sent either by normal foot mail, owl mail or delivered directly by elf."

"So what's it like?" Millicent asked.

Harry and the Icemaidens all grinned. "You'll get to meet a wider variety of people than you would at anything the Ministry runs, Millie," Camellia explained. "It's open to all magical beings; representatives of all groups native to the United Kingdom always come to visit. There are people from the _Mundus Magicus_ who come by. Even a member of the Royal Family in the know about our world makes a visit."

Pansy, Daphne and Tracey all hummed as they considered that. The Ministry Yule Levée was, for young witches and wizards attending Hogwarts, a combination débutante/beautillion ball which allowed prospective marriage/handfasting-seekers the chance to meet with future mates in a civil forum, thus allowing potential marriage contracts to be verbally drawn up by the elders - usually _**without**_ any input from the subjects of such contracts - and guarantee the future of the elite pureblood clans. As the Parkinsons and the Greengrasses held seats in the Wizengamot and the Davises were one of the wealthiest magical families in Britain, it was more than guaranteed that the three Slytherin freshmen - not to mention Pansy's brother Michael - would be the target of prospective husbands (and wives) seeking a future marriage.

And given what Tracey herself had learned back on her birthday . . .!

"So where's it being held?" Daphne asked.

"Lindum Colonia," Harry answered. "Otherwise known as Reevewick Lincolnshire. That's just outside the town of Lincoln itself where the old Roman magical quarter of Colonia Domitiana Lindensium was located. It's about the same size as Hogsmeade."

The three Slytherin girls all hummed, and then they exchanged looks. "Well, since I'm not in any mood to be paraded around like some slab of meat for some old fart - much less Draco - to gape at, I think I'll be having a discussion with Mom and Dad once I get back home," Pansy then said before she thumbed Chikage. "Hey, Harry, will Chikage be invited?" she then asked.

The traveller sighed as the others all laughed . . .

* * *

The Great Hall, Saturday 22 December, breakfast . . .

"Good morning, Tara."

Tara perked on hearing that cheerful voice, and then she looked up before she smiled. "Good morning, Severus," she said as the potions professor sat down at the head table and began breakfast. "Looking forward to the break?"

"Definitely," Severus stated. "Much that there are the bright stars in this year's classes, the amount of dunderheads that I have to deal with . . . "

She laughed. "Well, maybe when I'm free of an apprenticeship, we might gang together and convince Albus to allow a couple teachers in Potions - and the other classes as well - . . . " she then added in acknowledgement of the other "core" class professors who were present there, " . . . to take the pressure off your shoulders."

"Why, that sounds like a wonderful idea, Tara," Minerva noted with a nod of approval. "Veronica, would you be willing to let Thérèse assist me in Transfigurations if we can convince the Board of Governors to go along with this?"

"She's doing pretty well in her own studies, Minerva," Veronica stated straight-faced as she knew that Thérèse really didn't need much in the way of tutoring to get proper accrediting to become staff at Hogwarts. "I think I could have her sit her OWLs before spring vacation and her NEWTs when Professor Marchbanks and her entourage come by to hold the end-year exams." She gave the transfiguration mistress a look. "Of course, it has to be her choice at the end."

"Naturally." To Quirinus Quirrell. "Quirinus, would you like an assistant?"

The D.A.D.A. professor perked, and then he shook his head. "No, th-th-that's not n-n-necessary, Minerva. Th-th-thank you for o-o-offering, though."

"Good morning, everyone."

People turned as Albus walked up to join them. "Good morning, Albus," Tara greeted him, and then she perked. "Are you alright, sir? You look horrible . . .!"

The others were quick to understand Tara's comment; there was a drawn and aged look on the headmaster's face as he took his seat. "I feel that way, Tara. Thank you for your concern," he stated. "But it's something you cannot assist with."

"What happened, Albus?" Septima Vector demanded.

"Terrible . . . it's bloody terrible, I tell ye . . .!"

People perked on hearing that sobbing voice, and then they turned as a wet-faced Rubeus Hagrid came up to take his place at the end of the table; given the half-giant's massive girth, he needed a rather large seat to relax in when he had meals. "Hagrid!" Rolanda Hooch gasped. "What in Merlin's name is wrong? You look horrible!"

He blinked, and then sighed before he took up his tankard of pumpkin juice and drank it whole, clearly wishing it was firewhiskey. "I found a dead unicorn, Rolanda. Out in the Forest, not too far from where Magorian and his herd now live." A shake of the head as the others gaped at the gamekeeper. "Drained of _all_ her blood! Terrible! Just terrible . . .!" And with that, he pulled out a dirty handkerchief and blew out his nose before he moved to drink down a refilled goblet of juice and dig in to eat.

"Take heart, Hagrid," Albus then soothed. "I've already called Peter Young in to look over the matter. If anyone can determine what happened, he can."

"Shouldn't the Aurors be called, Albus?" Charity Burbage then asked.

"Given how resentful of human wizards Magorian and the members of his herd often feel, Charity, I felt it best to keep the Aurors away from this situation," the headmaster answered. As the others at the head table nodded - they all had run-ins with the members of the centaur herd living in the Forbidden Forest, so they knew how xenophobic those beings actually were - Albus then added, "They know Peter quite well; he often visits them to ensure they're alright and are not being bothered by the acromantulas who currently live in the Forest." He then perked before gazing once more at Hagrid. "Hagrid, did Aragog or any of his children see anything?" he asked.

The gamekeeper perked, and then he firmly nodded. "I haven't talked to Aragog about it, but if ye want me to go talk to him, Professor, I can."

"Please do so; Peter will be here . . . OH, MY!"

Everyone jolted on hearing Albus' shout, and then they turned . . .

. . . before they all gaped on seeing Fred and George Weasley walk into the room, both now being _**snowed on**_ by a moving grey cloud not a metre above their heads! Right behind the twins, their elder brother Percy was trying his best to dispel the cloud with his wand. On seeing Fred and George being deluged by the white stuff, many of the students from all the houses began to laugh and whoop in delight. "Oh, my heavens!" a grinning Filius Flitwick gasped on seeing such a remarkable show of charms work, even if it clearly was a prank. "Who on Earth did that to them?"

"The Icemaidens, no doubt," Pomona Sprout said as she tried not to giggle at the sight. "Don't you remember, Filius? That was their signature prank!"

The diminutive charms master blinked, and then he nodded before getting out of his chair and heading over to help dispel what was happening to the Weasley twins. As the others at the head table all watched, Filius got Percy to stop trying his own magic on the cloud before he moved to disperse it himself. All that happened was that a _**new**_ cloud appeared over the professor's head, showering him this time with FEATHERS!

On seeing this, everyone - even Hagrid - all roared with laughter . . .

* * *

By the main gate of the school, a couple hours later . . .

"Hey, Hermione!"

Hermione perked on hearing that, and then she turned before sighing. "Yes, Ronald, what is it?" she asked as she crossed her arms and glared at her housemate.

The youngest Weasley brother tensed on seeing that annoyed look on her face, and then he stopped before bowing his head to her. "Um, look . . . I . . . "

"What?"

Ron blinked, and then he sighed. "Look, I just wanted to say how sorry I am because of all the times I bugged you to get your homework to copy."

Silence fell over the scene as the normal-born from West Sussex considered those words, and then she nodded. "Accepted," she said. "But on the condition that you do your best to do your _own_ homework, alright?" she then prodded.

He stared at her, and then he nodded. "I'll try."

"You better," she said. "Anyhow, you have a happy Christmas, okay?"

A nod. "You, too."

He turned to head back towards the castle, where his brothers were waiting. She watched him go, and then moved to step onto one of the carriages that would be taking all the people heading back home for the holidays to Hogsmeade Station for the train ride back to London King's Cross. Already inside the carriage in question were Harry, Chikage, Aesup, Brianna and Neville Longbottom. "What are your plans for the holidays, Neville?" Hermione asked as the carriage soon began to lumber through the main gate, joining a long procession towards the village on the southeast shore of Loch Eigheach.

"I'll be visiting my parents at Saint Mungo's," the timid blond replied before he turned back to his herbology textbook. "Got the invite to the Ministry Levée, so chances are there that Grace and I'll both get scouted out by some people who might want to approach Gran to negotiate marriage contracts for us."

"Ah, a combination débutante and beautillion ball, you mean."

Eyes locked on Chikage. "What's that?" Neville asked.

"Débutantes are young, unmarried ladies," the traveller explained. "Beaus are young, unmarried men such as yourself, Neville. A gathering of débutantes to give them the chance to meet prospective husbands is known as a 'débutante ball.' A gathering of beaus to give them the chance to meet prospective wives is a 'beautillion ball.'"

"Sure damn lucky that we took the Loyal Oath," Brianna then noted.

"You can say that again," Harry added.

Neville blinked. "What do you mean?"

"The Loyal Oath to the Crown - because it's backed up by a Magical Royal Proclamation - is considered the highest 'safe' oath to another person or group a wizard or witch can take in Britain," Hermione then explained. "Only an Unbreakable Vow is much more important, but given that people can die from that . . . "

"And you require a bonder to make it work properly," Aesup added.

Hermione nodded. "Few people actually would take a Vow. But given what the Loyal Oath means, there's no way the Ministry can inflict any sort of marriage law or marriage decree on anyone that takes that oath." She then smiled at Harry.

Neville was quick to spot that. "What?"

"When _Harry-ya_ was catching up on all the mail that got sent to him while he was with his cousin's family and then his sister, he got some proposals for marriage along the way," Aesup said, shaking her head. "That was just sad to see."

"Agreed," Brianna moaned. "You'd have to be _**really**_ desperate to try to hook a KID into a marriage pact!" She smirked. "Well, lucky thing Harry took the Loyal Oath when he and Rose finally got together!" She then made a flushing noise as she twirled her fingers in a whirlpool-like motion. "All got flushed down the privy!"

"Brianna! Don't be gross!" Hermione scolded.

Laughter filled the carriage. "So are you going to the Magistrates' Levée, 'Mione?" Harry then asked as he gazed on the normal-born.

Hermione perked. "I don't think I got an invitation . . . "

"Don't worry about it, 'Mione. Aunt Janet would have either owled your parents or sent a letter through the Royal Mail straight to you," Brianna assured her.

"Will Dad, Mom and Ness be invited?"

A nod. "Sure thing. They're your parents and sister."

Hermione hummed, and then she nodded. "I guess I'm going."

"'Magistrates' Levée?'" Neville wondered.

"It's for those who've taken the Loyal Oath to the Crown, relatives of same, guests of same and any magical creature who lives in Britain," Chikage explained.

As the jaw of the scion of the Longbottoms of Bournemouth dropped in shock, all the others on the carriage laughed before Harry began to explain . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	25. The Levées

The Hogwarts Express (somewhere between Glasgow and Edinburgh), two hours later . . .

"Of COURSE I'll be there, Drake! You don't have to worry about that!"

Hearing that from Pansy, Draco then smiled. "I'll see you then."

With that, he walked out. As always, he was accompanied by Vincent and Gregory as he moved to return to his own compartment somewhere else on the train. As soon as he was gone and the door had closed, Achelois drew an ofuda Chikage had given her to fling against the door to magically seal it. "I don't know why you didn't ask for me to do that for you earlier, Pansy," the elder daughter of the Runcorn family then mused as she gazed on her housemate, who was seated beside Millicent opposite Achelois and Camellia. "I know how much you hate dealing with the berk."

A sigh. "Like it or not, I have to keep up appearances," Pansy noted.

"Why?" Camellia wondered as she crossed her arms. "Your family is as wealthy as Draco's. Even more so, your family - due to its dealings in the normal world - can't be assaulted financially as easily as the Malfoys and the other 'wizarding-only' rich families can be. Why worry about someone like Draco? Yes, he does seem to be showing some signs of independent thinking, but in many ways, he's still too dependent on his father's reputation and influence to really start making waves. He shouldn't be of any real concern of yours, much less Daphne's. Relax and be yourself for a change."

Pansy gazed at her, and then she smirked. "Melli, why is it your family doesn't participate in the Wizengamot? Much less yours?" she asked Achelois. "Between both your families, you control two of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses, a Most Noble House and a Noble House. That's a total of eleven seat votes in the Wizengamot . . . "

"But what does the Wizengamot _**do**_, Pansy?" Achelois asked.

Silence.

"It makes the laws . . . " Millicent began.

"Of course it does. But it doesn't answer to the WHOLE electorate," Camellia instantly cut in. "Only the Minister himself does since voting for him is the ONLY time that EVERYONE is permitted a chance to have a say in who serves."

"Not everyone, Melli," Achelois warned.

The silver-haired girl perked, and then she nodded. "Ah, yes, I forgot. Lunar therianthropes can't vote. Neither can so-called 'half-breeds' . . . "

"I didn't know that!" Millicent blurted out.

"Did you ever ask your parents if they ever voted for Fudge or Bagnold before him, Millie?" Camellia then asked. "I'll lay bets that your father and grandmother never could vote."

The stocky girl blinked as she took that in, and then she sat back in her chair. "Bugger!" she exhaled. And with good reason: her father Peter was two generations removed from giant stock through his own mother Callander, who could easily look Rubeus Hagrid right in the eye! "Why does he pay taxes to the Ministry if he can't vote?"

"He doesn't know better," Camellia answered with a shrug. "Of course, if he wishes to be free of such a burden, he could simply ask to have his family join the Loyal Magical Wicks - the magical communities - in Buckinghamshire . . . "

A knock then echoed from the door. They turned to look, and then Camellia opened it to allow Chikage inside. "Are you alright, Pansy?" the traveller asked.

Pansy blinked. As she had done on the trip to Hogwarts back in September, she had taken the compartment next to Harry's on the trip back to London . . . though on remembering that, she then recalled that Brianna Spinks had been with Achelois that day in lieu of Camellia Matthews, while Tracey Davis had accompanied Pansy. "I'm fine."

A knowing look crossed the other girl's face. "You sure?"

Millicent sighed. "Draco was by."

Chikage took that in, and then she nodded as she closed the door behind her to allow the ofuda to once again block any noise from outside. "What was he doing?"

"Parroting his father as usual," Pansy stated. "He wants to make sure that I'm there at the Yule Levée at the Doge mansion. He's probably doing the same thing with Daph and Trace right now wherever they're sitting." She nodded behind her in emphasis.

"Most likely, he's just repeating what his father wanted him to say," Achelois added. "That's to be expected in this case, Chikage."

A nod. "Walk with me, Pansy."

Pansy jolted on sensing the slight edge of command in the traveller's voice, and then she stood up to follow Chikage out of the room. The others watched them go, and then they exchanged looks. "What the hell's she gonna do?" Millicent asked.

"I can't say," Camellia answered, shrugging.

* * *

Meanwhile, Chikage and Pansy were making their way to the last compartment in their car. "Fortunately for us, since many people stay behind for the holidays, we have places to have some private discussions," she mused as she beckoned her classmate into the compartment, then closed the door behind her before affixing an ofuda there to ensure no outside noise could seep in. "Are you alright?" she asked again.

The raven-haired native of Lancaster took a moment to consider that, and then she sighed. There were times she had to play the game to protect herself and ensure she was safe, her mother had advised her. There were also times when the game wasn't necessary. Recalling that, she then realised _that_ was what had attracted Pansy to join the "defence club" Chikage and Harry organised back in September. Yes, said club had five other Slytherin freshmen as a part of it . . . which would, under NORMAL circumstances, have made it quite tense given that it was often believed in the Serpents' Den that - to borrow a phrase from a popular wrestler - you couldn't trust ANYONE! Still, Pansy would and did trust Daphne and Tracey with her life; their shared friendship had started when they were babies and had grown to the point where they were sisters in all but name these days. Millicent was really harmless deep down despite her size and toughness; she was, at heart, a farmer's daughter who had learned things that "city" girls wouldn't know at all and, despite her desire to succeed in life, really wouldn't hurt a fly in the long term. Achelois and Camellia - thanks to their dressing down of Draco on their first night at Hogwarts - had earned a very hard reputation among both their peers and their elders as being nearly untouchable.

"Not really," she confessed as she gazed up at the traveller, and then she took a deep breath before drawing out her wand and pointing it at her face.

One "_Finite Incantatem_" later, Chikage's eyebrow arched. "I thought I had sensed something like that," she mused, a smile of admiration crossing her face. "I would assume it was either your father or your mother that set that up for you."

Pansy nodded. "Dad did. He didn't like the idea of people like Draco or Theo - much less any of the older years that would be more inclined to support Riddle and his ilk - preying on me in hopes of getting a trophy wife and a very sizable dowry." A sigh. "That's part of the reason I started to hate going to the Yule Levées and all the other events that we're always invited to. People have been scouting me out since I was eight. It's bad enough that marrying me guarantees a good dowry for the husband-to-be to spend to his heart's content. But to add beauty atop that . . . "

"Well, if you still happen to be interested in coming with me back to Megatōkyō, you won't have to worry about monetary questions," the traveller then advised as she sat down beside her friend, gently grasping her hands. "I'm a very frugal person and I have no desire to take any dowry should a relationship develop between us, never mind the matter of the inability to permanently transport specie from one dimension to another. Still, I should advise you that the Victims Memorial Association runs totally on charitable donations, though the Gringotts branch in Yoshiwara - that's the magical district in Megatōkyō; it's in Taitō Ward - helps with investments so that we can weather the leaner times whenever public donations get a little sparse."

"'Victims Memorial Association?'"

"The Second Kantō Victims Memorial Association. In the normal world, it's the non-governmental organisation which has been fighting for the creation of a standing memorial to the earthquake five years ago in my timeline as the city and its suburbs were rebuilt." Chikage then smiled as she gave her companion a knowing look. "In reality, the memorial's already been constructed; it went hand-in-hand with the Spiral. But since magic had to be used to build it, we had to mask it from outside view."

Pansy stared at her. "You said the Spiral was HOW high?"

"Twenty-five hundred metres from ground to tip."

A whistle escaped her. "That must be some muggle-repelling charm."

"Fortunately, given how much damage occurred and how many people died in the quake and what's been happening after the quake, there's enough free mana energy around to draw on to power both the normal-repelling charms and the illusion charms meant to keep the Spiral hidden. Remember when we were in the Room of Requirement?"

"Un."

"Remember the arcology I pointed out to everyone?"

A nod. "Genom, right?"

"The largest multinational on the planet and growing quite strong," Chikage explained. "Though the top tier of leaders are quite well-intentioned people, the sheer number of people involved in making such a _zaibatsu_ - which is what it really is - run practically guarantees that there are going to be the arrogant, the selfish, the greedy, the ill-intentioned and the plain stupid in high positions of power. That more than guarantees people at the bottom of the latter in the company and beyond the company's employ will suffer whenever someone gets it into their heads to do something foolish. Especially when it comes to combat cyberdroids Genom is making."

Pansy blinked. "So they're acting like many purebloods here act."

"In a way, with a taste of what Tom and his friends unleashed, though it's not openly-declared warfare," Chikage affirmed with a nod of her head.

A sigh. "Nice town."

"Oh, there are people who stand up against it," the traveller reported; she had read about what had happened in Tōkyō as it had transformed into Megatōkyō in a special information file Ryūji had programmed into her PADD before she had crossed into this dimension. "One of them is Professor Stingray's elder daughter, Sylia. She's in the midst of preparing a team of fighters that will be able to step in whenever the local special police unit - the Advanced Police - can't handle the situation."

"Like the Order of the Phoenix, you mean?"

The traveller looked confused. "What was that?"

"Professor Dumbledore's organisation that he formed back in 1975 to stand up to the Death Eaters," the young heiress of the Parkinsons of Carnforth answered. "It actually had a lot of good people in it. Master Auror Alastor Moody, for example."

Chikage perked. "Is he still alive? He was a year behind Grandfather back at Hogwarts. He was on his way to getting a mastery in D.A.D.A. when Grandfather left."

"Oh, he's still alive. Retired, but still available to help with Auror training whenever Susan's aunt asks for him to come by the Academy." Pansy then sighed. "But the big problem with the Order was that - save for folks like Moody - it was more of an intelligence-gathering organisation than an actual combat group. That's pretty much what made Dad finally decide he would never support Dumbledore. The few times that the Order actually scored successes against Riddle's people, the captured Death Eaters were normally broken out of prison soon afterward so they could rejoin the ranks." She shook her head. "It was a war and the 'light' side wasn't prepared to fight it AS a war. The only real success against the Death Eaters until Riddle was dropped by Aunt Lily was Romney Marsh. Now that I know about what your grandfather had made when he was at Hogwarts on the side, something tells me the Magical Sheriffs were involved there."

"Do you still want to come with me?"

Silence.

Pansy gazed at Chikage, and then she sighed. "I am considering it."

"Like I told you back on Hallowe'en, Pansy, that's an EXTREME option to take."

"Even if a Life Debt is involved?"

A sigh. "Please don't tell me . . . "

Pansy shook her head. "No, I haven't done anything like that officially. But you have to admit, Chikage, magic has a funny way of enforcing that sort of thing."

A moan. "Oh, gods . . .!" Chikage breathed out as she found herself facing the one thing she didn't want to contemplate on her Magical Quest. Especially since she had ALSO told Pansy about how she herself had acquired a brand-new, healthy body thanks to the Janus process and Yoshio Saotome's vital research in rediscovering how bioroids could be created in such a way that anyone that required a complete "body-swap" could get one with incredible ease. "Pansy, think of your parents and Michael. Think of Daphne and Tracey as well. What would THEY think if you go forward with that?"

The other girl closed her eyes. "What if I have no choice in the matter?"

"Don't think that . . . "

"Chikage . . . "

"PLEASE!" the traveller snapped as she stared at her companion. "Pansy, I don't WANT something like THAT on my conscience! You might think that coming with me to Megatōkyō might be some great adventure, but I guarantee one thing: The INSTANT you acquire a body like mine - it being GROWN in MY universe! - the only way you could ever HOPE to come back home is just to VISIT!" A sigh. "Remember what I told Miss Braithwaite when she did that article on my arrival here in the _Prophet_. ONLY FOR ONE SOLAR YEAR can a person stay in another dimension! Come this summer, I HAVE to go to another dimension to ensure I don't get phased somewhere I don't WANT to be!"

Pansy moved to reply, and then she took a deep breath. "I like you."

Chikage closed her eyes. "I like you, too, Pansy. You're a wonderful person and a decent person deep down. You hold up to things that many other people just wouldn't bother wasting the energy to tolerate. But PLEASE . . . " She took a deep breath. "Do you think you're the only one who might want a change of scenery?"

"Eh?"

"When you go to the Sheriffs' Levée, I'll introduce you to Wilma Skegness."

Pansy blinked, and then she gaped. "You mean . . .?"

"There were a few people who had crushes on Grandfather when he was here."

Both gazed at each other, and then Pansy giggled before she found herself staring once more into Chikage's royal blue eyes. A second later, she leaned in to place a tender kiss on the traveller's lips. "I can't deny my feelings," she admitted before standing up and walking out of the compartment to rejoin her housemates.

The teenage traveller-in-a-child's body could only shake her head. "«_You never told me about problems like THIS, Baka Ojii-san!_»" she hissed out in Japanese . . .

* * *

London, King's Cross Station, five hours later . . .

"Why, Rose! Waiting for your brother?"

"Oh, hello, Minister," Rose said with a polite smile as she gazed on Cornelius Fudge. The Minister for Magic - along with a small entourage that included Delores Umbridge and John Dawlish as the minister's current Auror escort - had just apparated in from the Ministry complex located under Northumberland Avenue to join the small crowd of parents awaiting the arrival of the Hogwarts Express, which had just appeared in the haze up to the north. Given that it was a couple hours after sunset, Platform 9 3/4 glowed with magical gaslight. The weather was chilly, though not as cold and snowy as it was in the highlands of Scotland. "What brings you here?"

An embarrassed laugh. "Well, actually, I came here to see your brother, but since you're here as well, it's an extra bonus for me," Cornelius admitted. "Do you both realise you're the hardest pair of people to try to send an owl to?"

"Well, that _**is**_ understandable, sir," Rose confessed. "Given all the mistakes people have made about what happened when the Slit-Eyed Albino came to kill my parents, my brother and I ten years ago . . . " - "Slit-Eyed Albino" was Rose's chosen nickname for Voldemort THIS month - " . . . you wouldn't BEGIN to believe what sort of fan-mail has been sent our way. Grandpapa set up mail-direction wards over our cousins' home in Little Whinging to keep the owls away. From what Harry told me, the pile of mail that finally had accumulated up in Hogwarts over ten years was as big as Grand-uncle Rubeus himself!" A shake of the head. "People sure can't get a story straight."

"What do you mean, Dame Rose?" John asked.

"It was MOM that took care of Riddle, Sergeant Dawlish." Rose then smiled at him. "By the way: Congratulations on your promotion." As the brown-haired auror with the pale blue eyes blushed at the young magical sheriff's acknowledgement of his recent promotion in the ranks of the Corps of Law Aurors, she turned back to Cornelius. "Much that I can understand why people wanted to have a hero to worship after that berk went down, they picked the wrong hero." A sigh. "At least the Queen acknowledged that."

"How so, young lady?"

Rose turned, and then she smiled as Augusta Longbottom came up to join them, accompanied by Grace. "Mom was awarded the George Cross for what she did to get rid of the creep," she explained. "It's the second-highest award for gallantry Her Majesty can bestow on any of her subjects. When you bring the Orders of Merlin together with the normal decorations, the G.C. is one step about a First Class Order of Merlin."

"Really?" John breathed out.

"That is NOT right!" Delores hissed out.

"Delores!" Cornelius snapped. "That's enough! Try to remember, our ancestors swore eternal fidelity - even for US - to the Crown when they wrote up the Separation Act. King William and Queen Mary gave it their blessings in the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1692, which means we are honour-bound to ACKNOWLEDGE that fact! If you have a problem with that, we may have to discuss certain future career opportunities."

The senior undersecretary blanched on hearing that veiled threat from the minister, and then she meekly nodded in understanding. "Well, at least Lily's work WAS properly acknowledged in the long term," Augusta stated. "But what of Sir Glaston?"

"Same thing, Grand-aunt Augusta," Rose assured her with a smile.

The matriarch of the Longbottoms of Bournemouth found herself blushing as her mind interpreted what Rose just called her. As Grace tried to fight down the urge to grin, a _pop!_ nearby made the Magical Sheriff of Somerset turn to see her adopted mother then appear, accompanied by six other people. "Oh, there you are!" she said as she walked over to accept Petunia Dursley's embrace. "Was the traffic bad?"

"Not really, since we were driving INTO the city when everyone else was LEAVING it," Vernon assured her as he accepted his niece's embrace. "How are you, Rose?"

"I'm okay, Uncle!" Rose said before she embraced Dudley and Alfred.

_Pop!_ "Mistress, the parents to the other normal-borns who are returning home for the holidays are still on the other side of the barrier," Tamara Simmonds stated as she bowed her head to her mistress, and then bowed again to the Dursleys. "Would you like me to have them brought here so they can greet their children?"

"Go ahead, Tamara," Rose said.

_Pop!_ With that, Tamara was gone. "My God!" John gasped. "Was that an elf?"

"One of six Rose has," Vernon affirmed.

"Oh, my heavens . . .!"

Eyes turned to Augusta, who was staring in wide-eyed shock at Lilian Evans. The crimson-haired, green-eyed human-form elf smiled at her. "Hello, Augusta."

"Great Merlin! It's like looking at Lily Potter herself!" Cornelius gasped.

"Which a lot of people have said about me, Minister Fudge," Lilian stated. "It seems that Magic itself wanted me to be like this when Sir Glaston liberated me from my old owners due to their abuse of me, then put me through the Elf Evolution Chikage's grandfather developed when he was at Hogwarts. While Tamara and the others are like normal elves . . . " - she looked over as Tamara teleported back in, accompanied by Hermione Granger's parents Daniel and Jean, they also accompanied by Hermione's younger sister Clytemnestra ("Nessie" as she was normally known) - " . . . when Lily used the scrying room at Sir Glaston's home to copy her memories into me, it practically broke all the genetic programming I inherited from my ancestors. Save for the fact that I still have to be magically bound to a family. Which I am to Rose and Harry."

"It still isn't right!" Delores hissed out.

"What's not right?" Rose asked.

"Making elves look like THAT!" the senior undersecretary snapped as she waved at Lilian. "It'll put all sorts of foolish ideas into them! They were created to serve us! That is IT! There should be laws against that sort of . . .!"

"DELORES!" Cornelius snapped. "I will NOT have you insult all of Ryūji's hard work just because it offends your sensibilities!" Before the senior undersecretary could respond, the minister then gazed knowingly at Rose. "I would believe, Dame Magistrate Potter, one of the Magical Royal Proclamations covers this situation."

"The Magical Royal Proclamation of the Noble Tribes, 1815, Annex B, Paragraph Six," Rose automatically answered. "It is strictly forbidden for any magical citizen of the United Kingdom to abuse house elves as they are acknowledged as a Noble Servant Tribe due to the specific nature of their magic. Along with that, it is ALSO forbidden for any magical citizen of the United Kingdom to perform any sort of harmful magic onto a house elf. However, Paragraph Seven of Annex B states that all research that could either enhance a house elf's magic or find some way to magically emancipate a house elf from his or her servant bond to a master IS permitted AND encouraged!" She shrugged. "The Elf Evolution process is considered legal and is encouraged for all people wanting to have house elves in their homes, especially for those living with the normals."

"Crikey!" Dudley breathed out. "That STILL scares me!"

"What do you mean, young man?" Augusta asked.

"The way Rose can rattle off the laws like that, ma'am," Harry's and Rose's eldest cousin then stated. "Kinda makes me wonder if that spell Chikage's grandpa made that Sir Glaston used to save Rose's life really did any good for her."

"It ultimately saved her life, Dudley," Lilian stated. "Even if Rose tends to slip into that mode of behaviour whenever something prompts it, she is trying to get better control over herself. Give her a little time, alright?"

Laughter escaped all the Dursleys, the Grangers (who had wandered over to join them on recognising Rose from Hermione's descriptions of her in her letters, not to mention the insignia of her station on the left flap of her black cape) and the Thomases (whom Tamara had just helped teleport onto the platform) just as the Express began to manoeuvre alongside Platform 9 3/4. Along with Dean Thomas' mother Danielle and his stepfather Kyle, there were his two stepbrothers Colin and Philip and his two stepsisters Wendy and Janet, the latter of which had been born right after Dean had gone to Hogwarts. As introductions were made - which made both August Longbottom and Cornelius Fudge beam on getting the chance to meet Harry's uncle Vernon Dursley, whom they both knew from his letter to the wizarding world that had been published in the _Daily Prophet_ shortly after Harry had moved to Beckery Hill - the train crew brought the steaming GWR4900 locomotive to a stop just before the engine struck the barrier at the end of the track line right underneath the station building itself. Immediately, stairs deployed from all the passenger cars as prefects came out to help the younger students returning home from the holidays get onto the platform.

"Rose! Mama!"

Rose yelped in delight as she ran over to embrace Harry, which made all the people watching this beam in delight. "I'm home," the latter said.

"You're not home yet, big brother," the former sobbed.

They remained still a moment as the younger Potter allowed herself to cry. By then, Chikage had got off the train. After parting from Pansy and Michael - who had come over to help his sister get her trunk off the train before they would head over to join Malcolm and Grouch, who were waiting by the stairs - the traveller then walked over to join everyone now around Lilian. She was quick to spot the other people who were there. "Minister Fudge. Senior Undersecretary Umbridge. Sergeant Dawlish. Congratulations on your promotion, by the way, Sergeant," Chikage greeted them with a nod.

John perked. "How could you tell?" he demanded.

"Your _ki_, of course."

The wizards and witches all looked confused. "'_Ki_?'" Cornelius asked.

"It's the life energy in your body," Dudley then answered. "This is what folks from Japan, Korea and China call it. You folks call it your 'magical aura.'"

People then perked. "Oh, I understand," Cornelius stated. "But still . . . "

Chikage smiled. "I met Sergeant Dawlish when he was still a corporal back in September when Rose came to Hogwarts and demonstrated the Lightning Axe after that sordid incident with Mrs. Weasley. I was quick to note his body's _ki_ aura. Looking at it now, I can tell that he feels a much greater sense of personal pride and personal responsibility, plus is very pleased about something. It practically equals what Auror Sergeant Shacklebolt - whom I also met back in September - had in his own _ki_ aura. Put it all together and the conclusion is rather quite obvious."

"So at least you'll have something more than just mage-sight to warn you in case of a possible threat, you mean," Augusta then said, nodding in understanding.

"Indeed, Mrs. Longbottom," Chikage said on noting Neville had come up to embrace Grace; she was quick to note the family resemblance. "After all, magic - despite its remarkable utility and universal nature - is NOT the be-all and end-all when it comes to paranormal energy studies. I'll be exploring that when I go to other dimensions, including two such dimensions my grandfather visited where the number of magicals are far smaller than here and the local 'sorcerer supreme' on the Earth in those dimensions often turns out to be a normal who has to train very hard to tap into what magical powers he has deep within his spirit and body." As all the wizards and witches gaped at her, the traveller shrugged. "If you all think that is odd, you haven't seen anything yet." She then gazed on Cornelius. "So tell me, Minister: What does bring you down to the station to greet all of us? Surely not because of me, I hope."

The minister laughed in embarrassment. "Well, actually, it partially IS because of you that I came," he admitted as he reached into his suit jacket and pulled out an envelope marked with the wax seal of the Ministry. "I have a formal invitation for you to attend the Ministry's Yule Levée on Monday afternoon at the Doge mansion over in Cirencester. Actually, I also have invitations for Harry and Rose as well." He then glanced over to the Potter siblings, who were still holding each other nearby. "But I think I'll wait until they're ready to take them," he added with a smile.

"Oh, dear. That's going to be a problem."

Eyes locked on Lilian. "Why's that?" Augusta asked.

"Because the Magistrates Magical always hold a Yule Levée of their own on Christmas Eve Day, Augusta," the crimson-haired human-form elf advised. "This year, it'll be hosted by Dame Wilma Skegness over in Lindum Colonia. It's the same day."

"And since she's one of the Magistrates Magical, Rose HAS to be in attendance," Vernon then warned after exchanging a knowing look with Petunia.

"Oh, dear! I never knew that!" Cornelius stated.

"Actually, it may not be so bad."

People gazed on Chikage. "What do you mean?" the minister asked.

"Well, the Ministry Levée is scheduled to start at two o'clock on Monday afternoon and extends until six o'clock in the evening," the traveller stated as she scanned the information on the card she had been given. "If I recall what Grandfather had written to me in my PADD concerning the Magistrates' Levée is correct, such would start at nine o'clock in the morning and go straight through to nine o'clock at night. And if I recall my British geography correctly, Cirencester is not that far from where Dame Matilda Godwine lives not far outside Gloucester. So it would be a quick Floo trip from Lincoln to Gloucester, then either portkey or elf-teleport to Cirencester."

"Good heavens!" Cornelius gasped. "A levée that goes all day?"

"You have to remember, Minister, there ARE ninety-three people like Rose based across the United Kingdom," Lilian then added. "Not to mention the Magistrates Magical for all the overseas territories like Gibraltar, the Falklands and elsewhere."

"AND the Crown Dependencies as well," Chikage added.

"What are they?" Delores asked, looking quite confused.

"The Isle of Man between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, not to mention the Channel Islands off the Normandy peninsula of France," Chikage answered. "People like Rose are addressed as 'Her Majesty's Magical Bailiffs' for Guernsey and Jersey as they are considered separated governments. For the Isle of Man, the position is addressed 'Her Majesty the Lady of Mann's Keeper of the Magical Keys.'"

The minister hummed. "Learn something new every day," he breathed out.

"Learn what?"

Everyone turned as Rose and Harry came up to join them. "We were discussing the fact that there are those like you amongst the Manxmen and the Channel Islanders, Rose," Vernon explained. "It wasn't something the good minister here knew."

"I still am a little deluged with all the laws I have to review; I haven't even got CLOSE to looking over the Magical Royal Proclamations," Cornelius added. "To be honest with you, I've never heard anything at all about wizards from the Isle of Mann, much less the Channel Islands." He then perked before he gazed at Rose's brother. "Anyhow, Harry, I trust your first term at Hogwarts went off well."

"Mostly As and EEs," Harry stated. "So what are you doing here?"

"You both been invited to the Ministry's Yule Levée," Chikage explained.

"But I didn't realise you both had invitations to the Magistrates' Levée Dame Wilma is hosting over at her home," Cornelius added as he pulled out the two other envelopes he had brought with him to Platform 9 3/4 to hand to them.

The Potter siblings took the envelopes in hand and opened them. "Oh, it'll be at Grand-uncle Elphias' home this year!" Harry then said before he took a moment to consider something. "Between two and six o'clock, eh?" he mused aloud before nodding. "Well, I can certainly come to visit; it'll be good to meet Grand-uncle Elphias at last. I'm not too sure about Rose, though." He glanced over to his sister.

A sigh. "It'll have to be very brief," Rose stated before she leaned close to Cornelius. "It's one of the things about being a Magical Magistrate I really can't stand at times," she said in a staged whisper that made all the adults smirk.

"I know, Rose. I can't stand them either," the minister whispered back.

People around them tried not to grin too much . . .

* * *

Some minutes later - after Cornelius and his party had apparated back to the Ministry offices in the City of Westminister - a considerable crowd made their way through the magical barrier between Platform 9 3/4 and the normal part of King's Cross Station. Along with the Potter/Dursley group and Chikage, the Grangers and the Thomases, there were the Perks, the Finch-Fletchleys and the Entwhistles. Fortunately for all of them, there were specially-designed notice-me-not charms around the hidden gateway to the platform for the Hogwarts Express which helped ensure those normals that did NOT have anything to do with the wizarding world would see what was going on around the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10. "Thank you so much for doing that for us, Tamara," Kevin's mother Victoria said as she smiled at the raven-haired, pale-skinned human-form elf that served as Rose's social secretary/clerk. "Much that we're glad to have Kevin back with us for the holidays, the fact that we're barred off from seeing him on and off the train . . . "

"Then why don't you get an elf for yourself, Mrs. Entwhistle?" Rose asked.

The other parents gaped at them. "Is that permitted?" Danielle Thomas asked.

"Of course! There's no law that forbids normal-borns from having elves at their home even if they're attending school at Hogwarts," the Magical Sheriff of Somerset assured them as they headed to a coffee shop in the main part of the station close to Euston Road. "All of you took the Loyal Oath, right?" As Hermione, Dean, Sally-Anne, Justin and Kevin all nodded, Harry's sister then smirked. "Well, with the help of a house elf, all of you can practice your magic and don't have to worry about the Improper Use of Magic Office sending you notes." As the others gaped, she added, "Why should all the magic-borns and mudbrains get the chance to practice magic over the holidays when folks like you 'can't?'"

"That's not right!"

Eyes locked on Hermione. "Why is it not right?" Petunia then asked.

"Don't worry about her, Mrs. Dursley," Clytemnestra said as she rolled her eyes. Two years younger than Hermione, she looked pretty much like her at nine save for having her mother's raven hair in lieu of the brown hair Hermione inherited from their father. "She's always been stuck up about the rules ever since she started school!"

"Nessie!" Hermione snapped.

Laughter filled the room, even from Janet Thomas, who was being cradled by Dean as Sally-Anne, her younger sister Kelly and Kevin's younger sister Margaret all were cooing and making all sorts of cute noises for the child. Much to the relief of Dean's mother and stepfather, Tamara Simmonds was staying very close by, keeping a sharp eye on the beautiful three-month old baby in Dean's arms. Kyle Thomas was holding the second-youngest of Dean's half-siblings, his two year-old brother Philip, in his arms. "Still, it would actually be nice to have extra help around the house," Jane Granger said as everyone walked into the café and moved to take seats as the husbands and Harry all went to get orders for coffee and tea. As people were relaxing, Chikage took out several ofuda and placed them at the various tables, creating a localised notice-me-not area so the others could talk in peace. "And given that you all believe this Riddle fellow is still around, not to mention those of his friends who avoided prison . . . "

"What would we have to do about that, Rose?" Sally-Anne asked.

"To get an elf?" Rose wondered, and then she sighed. "Well, normal elves can be obtained from a couple shops in Diagon Alley, but you need elves that have already undergone what Grand-uncle Ryūji made, so we have to go to Chatham."

"Why Chatham?" Doris Finch-Fletchley then asked.

"Oberon's Sanctuary is there," Rose explained. "It's the only place in all of England and Wales where abused house elves who were rescued by my friends are taken to recuperate before they're bonded to new owners. It's on the shores of the Medway just west of the M-2, off Wouldham Road. We could take the Floo there right from the Cauldron."

Hermione then giggled. "Is there an elf named Titania available?"

"Oh, Mione! Don't start!" Clytemnestra snapped.

Laughter filled the area as the elder Granger daughter stuck out her tongue to her sister. By then, all of the men had come back with trays of drinks. "Here we all go," Daniel Granger said as people took their seats and the drinks were distributed. "So what were you all conspiring about while we were gone?" he asked.

"There's an abused elf sanctuary in Chatham we could go to," Jane explained. "Mione was asking if there was an elf named Titania there."

More laughter. "Well, I'm not one really for Shakespeare, but even I recognised the references in your names," Vernon noted. "A pity we can't have an elf."

"Yes, it would make things easier," Petunia noted.

"Why not?" Fay Perks asked.

"Sadly, it's part and parcel of the whole 'boy-who-lived' nonsense Harry has to deal with," Petunia explained. "There's a no-magic zone set up around Little Whinging; that was put into place right after Harry moved to Somerset to be with Rose to keep all the riff-raff away from bothering us because we were his relatives. You can't believe the number of times Sir Reginald - he's the Magical Sheriff for Surrey - had to intercept hexed letters sent to us from people who sympathised with Riddle."

"It stopped eventually, but there are people who still would do us harm, so the no-magic zone stays in place," Vernon added. "By the way, Chikage, what do you think really went wrong with that fellow? Your grandfather knew him, didn't he?"

A sigh. "Ebony meson radiation poisoning. As to how much, I can't say."

"Because of what he used to create people like Thérèse, Tamsin and Tara, right?" Harry wondered, and then he jerked. "Oh, no . . .!" he moaned.

Hermione winced. Those _not_ in the know about those people gaped. "Harry, what the heck are you saying?" Dean demanded. "You mean Thérèse and Tara are . . .?"

"Soul-clones, Dean. And since they both took the Loyal Oaths, there's no need to worry about their following their 'father's' path," Chikage immediately explained. "I hesitate to say more than that, but what I CAN tell you is this: When he was busy transforming himself from Tom Riddle into Lord Voldemort, he delved into some pretty dark magic. One of them is closely related to a concept Aesup can explain to you." A sigh before she sipped her tea. "But due to a problem that my grandfather partially instigated before he returned home in 1939, what eventually created Thérèse and Tara - and one other we know of - turned out to be much more than he originally intended to do." She smirked. "Like it or not, your Earth has non-magical metahumans living on it now, Dean. All powered by an energy source that is nearly inexhaustible, but is so powerful and so influential, it can twist people's minds around if they're not careful."

"Like the fact that the Ghost Riders smoke hashish to keep them sane, right?" Hermione then asked as some of the parents perked on hearing that name.

"Exactly. Professor Snape is the best example of how to guard oneself against the influence of ebony meson; he's a master Legilimens and Occlumens."

"Those are the mind-reading arts and mind-defence arts, right?" Kevin asked.

A nod. "Yes." Chikage then pulled out a small shard of diamond meson. "Say hello to the 'atom of the mind and the soul,' Kevin: Meson. This is the safest yet least powerful version of it: Diamond meson. Imagine this as solid pitch black and possessing the near-same density of purest neutronium. That's ebony meson. Tom was given a good-sized sample of that by mistake by Grandfather back in 1939." She sighed as she slipped that shard back into her jacket pocket. "And that - I now strongly fear - helped Tom become what he did over the years following that day."

Silence fell as people gazed on her. "Did you grandfather know?" Justin's father Dennis then asked. "About this material and what it can do?"

"No. The truth about meson wasn't discovered - revealed, not to mince any words about it - until the early 1980s in my dimension. And since Grandfather had - I suspect - pretty much forgotten what he had done for Tom that day here at the station, I don't think he ever considered coming back here to see what happened."

"So what can you do to help Riddle?" Kevin asked.

"I am investigating that during my time off from classes and studies, but it is hard," the traveller admitted. "My primary concern is the _Kokujun_ network; that's the ward-stone network Grandfather constructed for the Magical Sheriffs like Rose to use." As the others nodded, she added, "I suspect that it's because of the influence of the _Kokujun_ that people like the Ghost Riders began to appear in Britain."

"Who are the Ghost Riders?" Sally-Anne wondered.

"They're an all-girl motorcycle gang based down in Hampshire, Sally," Vernon explained. "You hear odd reports about them on the telly every once in a while. I used to think they were hooligans, but they don't break any laws like those maniacs in the colonies do." As the others nodded, he shook his head. "You have to help them?"

"And all the others like them," Chikage lamented.

"Do you need help?" Kevin asked.

The traveller stared at him, as did the others. "Kevin . . . "

"I researched that _giri_ thing you talked about when you found the Diadem," he admitted. "Much that you might feel responsible for what your grandfather accidentally did, you can't tackle this all alone, Chikage. I can see that."

"Agreed," Justin added, nodding.

"Well, if you wish to help, I need you all to do something first."

"What?" Dean asked.

"Learn Occlumency. Tara and Thérèse could teach it to you, as could Professor Snape if he can spare the time," Chikage stated. "We believe - thought we're not sure - Tom might be out there somewhere. With Harry now at Hogwarts, he automatically becomes a target. All of you are targets because you're all normal-borns. And using Legilimency to probe people's minds for their secrets is a tactic Tom will use."

The others nodded. "Well, Harry, you said it best," Dean mused.

Harry perked. "What do you mean?"

"Why you've been training yourself for so long," the dark-skinned native of the London borough of Harrow mused. "'Learn everything you can,' right?"

"Yeah."

"What about protecting our homes?" Kyle asked.

"Well, we can go to Gringotts."

Eyes locked on Rose. "Would they be open this late?" Petunia asked.

"They're open all day, Auntie! Profits don't wait for the lazy, you know!"

Laughter filled the room . . .

* * *

Gringotts, an hour later . . .

"Welcome! Welcome, all of you!" Erlking said as he beckoned everyone into his private office. Much to the surprise of all of the parents who had accompanied their children and relatives to the goblin-run institution at the very heart of Diagon, the lights were burning bright in all the offices here even if the front teller stations were only partially manned given the lateness of the day. Most of the shops in Diagon and even the part of Knockturn which was visible from the steps of the bank were dark, even Cructan's Café. "I somehow sense some profit to be made this evening."

"Indeed you do, Director," Chikage stated. "Given the fact that Thomas Riddle, who styles himself 'Lord Voldemort,' is still alive though currently deprived of a physical body thanks to the late Marchioness Potter's actions ten years ago, the chances are there that normal-borns across the United Kingdom are under threat should he somehow restore himself to corporeal existence and launch another rebellion against Her Majesty. My honoured classmates' parents have been wondering if it was possible to properly ward and protect their homes from potential attack by the Death Eaters or their supporters. By doing this, it will not only frustrate Tom's supporters that they might choose to levy future attacks on magical targets, it would also give Her Majesty's Magical Sheriffs and the combined Most Loyal Volunteer Magical Constabularies of the Realm a chance to respond and retaliate should such become necessary. After all, given the staggering number of casualties in the previous rebellion, I strongly doubt that the next one, when it happens, will be ignored so easily by the Crown."

Erlking nodded. "You are quite correct, Lady Hirosaki. As you might probably know, Her Majesty has often met with the Chief Director to discuss relations between our peoples here in Britain. And we are quite aware of how many of Her Majesty's Magical Sheriffs such as the Lady Dame Sheriff Potter here would gladly be allowed - and, in a way, are already prompted by the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1972 - to tear into Riddle's maniacs should they ever go crazy like they did a decade ago." He then smiled as he gazed on Hermione, Justin, Dean, Kevin and Sally-Anne. "Fortunately for all of you, your distant relationships to somewhat wealthy families whose holdings here at Gringotts were frozen when those families started producing what is known in the local parlance as 'squibs' will certainly give you all the chance to put wards over your homes at the same strength level as what currently stands around Hogwarts."

"All of us?" Dean asked.

A nod. "Indeed so, Master Dean. You, yourself, through your late father Hubert Mason, are the direct inheritor of the Noble Magical House of Mason of Aelius Bridge. In effect, you are at the same rank as Mistress Hermione is; by the ancient laws of the Wizengamot, both of you are the equivalents of barons in the normal system." As Dean's jaw dropped in shock, Erlking's dark eyes then fixed on Kevin. "Not to mention yourself, Master Kevin. In your case, you're six generations removed from the last living lord of the Noble Magical House of Battersby of Accrington."

"Wait a minute!" Hermione then cut in. "Director Erlking, what was the blood-status of Dean's father? Could he actually take his seat in the Wizengamot?"

A sigh. "At this time, Mistress Hermione, it would be almost impossible."

"Why not, Uncle?" Harry instantly asked. "In effect, he's as much a magical orphan as me even if his mother is still alive and she remarried."

"Because his mother is a normal even if his father was 'pure,' Harry," Erlking answered. "In effect - and I mean this not as an insult, Master Dean - he was born out of wedlock. Sadly, the late Lord Mason never wrote a will, so in effect, the House of Mason is considered by the Wizengamot as a defunct house like the Houses of Carter and Battersby."

"Damn! That's bad luck, Dean!" Justin noted.

"Is there any way to challenge such a ruling, sir?" Dean's mother asked.

A shake of the head. "Not at this time, Mrs. Thomas. Theoretically, it is conceivable that Master Dean could claim his father's seat in the Wizengamot on the defence of unintentional child abandonment due to the late Lord Mason's death at the hands of Riddle's people. But there are two objections that many of the currently-serving members of the Wizengamot will automatically raise. One: Master Dean is normal-raised even if he is a 'half-blood' by their way of looking at things. He has not been 'properly' indoctrinated in wizarding society and traditions. And two: His current magical guardian, the Lady Dame Sheriff Kaylan Elthorne, is forbidden by law to stand in his place in the Wizengamot given her nominal duties for the Crown as detailed in both the Separation Act of 1692 and the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1692." A sigh. "The only way I could see this actually work is that Master Dean would have to wait until his seventeenth birthday - when he is seen as a magical adult - to claim the seat."

"Was there a magical household the late Lord Mason lived in?" Chikage asked.

A nod. "Yes, I believe there was, but I don't know what the current status of the house actually might be, Lady Hirosaki. It was located in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, near the location of the old Roman fort in the city; as you'll all probably know, the city is sighted at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. Back in those days, a village was located there when everything south of that wall was part of the Empire." Erlking hummed. "Will you be attending the Sheriffs' Levée at Lindum Colonia on Monday, Master Dean?"

Dean grinned. "You bet. Unlike the Ministry's open house, this is something normal people can be invited to. My parents want to see what the magical world's - and I don't mean Nerio, of course!" he immediately objected as Erlking laughed and the others in the room grinned, and then he shrugged. "Well, it gives them all a chance to actually get a look at what life across the secrecy divide's all about."

"Then speak to the Lady Dame Sheriff Josephine Swinburne. She is Her Majesty's Magical Sheriff for Northumberland, so she could assist you there."

Dean nodded. "Definitely!"

"What about our son, much less David's and Fay's daughter, Director?" Dennis Finch-Fletchley then asked. "Do they have links to the Wizengamot?"

"No, they do not, Senior Manager Finch-Fletchley," Erlking said with a look of professional respect to Justin's father, who himself was a bank manager and a minor shareholder in Barclays, having inherited shares in the international bank from his parents. "However, your delightful wife is descent from the Loyal House of Durnac, which was one of the more wealthy wizarding families in England from the days of the Norman Conquest, though magical members of the family had not appeared for over a couple of centuries. As you'll probably realise - just like the name of the town in Dorset that your birth family name matches, Mrs. Finch-Fletchley - the name 'Durnac' was eventually changed to 'Dorchester.' The vault for which is actually within the top ten floors of this very institution." As people gaped at him, the goblin smirked. "They were quite wise investors even if they never earned the favour of the Crown to win a noble title to let them be part of the modern Wizengamot. I'm glad to see that Master Justin will inherit such a wealthy vault and be able to put the money back into circulation again."

"And me?" Sally-Anne wondered.

A sigh. "We're still having problems tracing any true magical ancestry in your background, Mistress Sarah. However, thanks to your actions of last autumn when you stumbled on the heiress of the Most Noble Magical House of Meretrice of Wye and her sisters in the Forest of Dean, you saw to it the wealth of several other vaults - on, I will admit, virtually the same scale as Master Justin's family - were able to be put back into circulation again." He waved to Dennis. "As the Senior Manager could explain to you, money that circulates enriches our bank thanks to transaction fees, interest charges and the like. Because the various family lines were declared 'defunct' by the Wizengamot, we were forced by treaty to put a freeze on transactions on those vaults."

"You weren't making money off them," Vernon concluded.

"Exactly, Manager Dursley. But now that confirmed magical heirs have been found for those vaults, we are able to earn money again while those heirs are able to reclaim their wealth and strive to restore themselves to their families' proper places in wizarding society, which is even more important in the case of Mistress Sarah's would-be paramour, the Lady Viscountess Libera." As Sally-Anne blushed and her parents gaped at her, Erlking looked apologetic. "I am sorry about that, Mistress Sarah!"

"She wants to be your LOVER?" Fay Perks eeped.

"MOM!" Sally-Anne moaned.

David groaned. "Be assured, Lieutenant, Libera's intentions towards Sarah are quite honourable," Chikage then said in her housemate's defence.

Justin fought hard to hide a smirk on hearing that. "I hope so!" Fay moaned.

"MOM!"

Rueful chuckles. "To that end - given the scale of such wealth that was freed - the Chief Director was pleased to declare your daughter a 'True Goblin Friend' for allowing us to earn such profits, Lieutenant Perks, Captain Perks," Erlking finished. "Especially since the Lady Libera and her friends took the excellent advice of the Lady Dame Sheriff Matilda Godwine and asked us to invest as much as possible in profitable companies, magical and mundane, in Britain and beyond the shores of these islands." A toothy grin crossed his face. "We have set up a personal vault for your daughter's use, which can be merged with any defunct family vaults we find in the future."

"That's good," Sally-Anne said. "We were going to head over to Chatham to find some house elves to work as housekeepers in our family homes, so we need the money."

"Oh! Oberon's Sanctuary, you mean!" As the others nodded, Erlking smiled. "You won't have to worry about spending too much, Mistress Sarah. Since those poor unfortunates are seized property, they don't cost as much as a mature 'normal' elf in the shops here in Diagon would. Still, since they will be closed at this time, I would recommend you get lodgings at the Leaky Cauldron or one of the hotels nearby before heading over to Chatham tomorrow. If you wish, once you're done there, come back here so we can make the necessary arrangements to have the wards put up in your homes. And give the Chief Director the chance to meet you and introduce you properly to the senior board here at Gringotts."

"I would be more than honoured, Director," Sally-Anne stated.

Everyone nodded . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	26. The Dark Lady of the Orient

The Leaky Cauldron, Sunday 23 December, breakfast . . .

"Good morning, Chikage. Sally-Anne."

"Good morning, Grand-uncle Tom. How are you this morning?"

Tom Dodderidge jerked on hearing the traveller call him "grand-uncle," though he didn't collapse into a crying fit like he had done when Harry and Rose called him that back in July when both came to Diagon Alley for the first time. "Oh, quite fine, my dear. Quite fine," he said as one of the house elves popped in with a tray of breakfast for Chikage. "Just came to tell you that Harry's and Rose's relatives are on their way now; Rose floo-called in to tell me they were coming down to meet up with everyone. They contacted the fellow who set up that no-magic ward over Little Whinging back when Harry moved off to be with Rose wherever they live now and invited him to come with them over to this Oberon's Sanctuary you're going to today."

"Here is yours breakfast, Mistress Chikage," the elf then said as she placed a tray with a piping-hot bowl of miso soup, fluffy rice mixed with spices and a serving of kimch'i on the side. "Danni makes very sure you gets kimmichee with breakfast!"

"Thank you, Mistress Danni," Chikage said with a nod of thanks.

Danni blinked, and then she squealed before popping out of the room. Tom watched her go, and then he chuckled. "My God! That brings back memories!"

"Let me guess. Chikage's grandfather called elves 'Master' and 'Mistress,' too, right?" Sally-Anne asked as she dug into her traditional English breakfast . . . which, much to Tom's surprise, _also_ included a serving of kimch'i!

"Aye, he did!" Tom then perked. "Where's that music coming from?"

Chikage indicated her PADD, which was set off to one side of her desk as she moved to prepare her tea. "A little local music since Sarah's with me today."

Sally-Anne laughed. "Chris de Burgh, eh?" Tom asked on recognising the words to "Ship to Shore" from _The Getaway_ album. "Damn fine balladeer, that fellow!"

The normal-born from Herefordshire gaped. "You know _Chris de Burgh_?" During her first term at Hogwarts, Sally-Anne had been introduced to wizarding bands such as the Weird Sisters - an all-_**boy **_band despite the name - by Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott. Given that, it struck her odd that Tom Dodderidge would know the Argentine-born, British/Irish descent songwriter now residing in Ireland's County Wicklow.

"Benefit of owning an inn that links to both the muggle and the wizarding world, Sally-Anne," the old innkeeper then reported. "You wouldn't believe the type of music I sometimes hear through the outer doors. Matter of fact, there've been a few times that witches meet up with muggle buskers outside the doors and fall in love with them!"

Both Hufflepuff freshmen laughed. "Hannah!" Sally-Anne declared.

"Aye! She was one of them!" Hannah's godfather affirmed with a proud nod, and then he sighed. "Anyhow, Justin and Kevin are up and about, too, as are Hermione and Clytemnestra. I'll keep an eye out for your parents." The elder Grangers, Perks, Entwhistles and Fitch-Fletchleys had gone to the Radisson Edwardian Hampshire on Leicester Square off Irving Street just southwest of the Cauldron to stay for the night as they didn't want to travel back to their homes in Crawley, Ross-on-Wye, Accrington and Chapel Saint Leonards (respectively) just to come back to London to meet up with the Potter siblings, the Dursleys and the Thomases before they would go on to Chatham.

"Tell them we'll be ready to go in twenty minutes," Chikage advised.

"Right-oh!"

Tom left, closing the door behind him. "Weird," Sally-Anne noted.

"Not so much," Chikage affirmed. "The Dodderidges are quite open and accepting as 'mainstream' wizards in Britain come, Sarah. Wonder to me why Jane's father or his predecessor never thought to give Grand-uncle Tom the chance to take the Loyal Oath."

Sally-Anne hummed . . .

* * *

Diagon Alley, a half-hour later . . .

"So it's first to Gringotts to get some funds, and then off to Chatham?"

"That's the plan," Rose stated as everyone passed through the gateway into the Alley - the wizards of the group keeping the gate open so the normals among them could get through with no problem whatsoever - and then they proceeded towards the imposing bank structure in the geographical centre of the wizard-only shopping district serving all of southeast England. They had been joined by Remus Lupin, who had flooed in to the Cauldron to join his magical charges on their friends' shopping trip.

"Doesn't Gringotts do anything like Eurocheques or automated banking?" Dennis Finch-Fletchley then asked. "Getting sacks full of galleons . . . "

"It's the next best thing, Uncle Dennis . . . what's wrong, Chikage?"

People stopped, all turning to gaze on Chikage, who had paused a few paces back, her eyes narrow as she seemed to glance off to one side. Before Rose could ask the question again, the traveller shushed her, and then wrapped the flaps of her cape close to her before she vanished without a sound. "Chikage!" Harry gasped . . .

. . . and then everyone jolted on hearing a surprised shout from the side alley between Scribbulus Writing Implements and Quality Quidditch Supplies. They then watched as a man sailed out from the alley in question to crash-land on the cobblestone street right in front of Eeylops Owl Emporium, his body wrapped around three times by a glowing _chain_ ending in what appeared to be a straight-blade hand-scythe. As the fellow - whom the people watching this were quick to recognise as Oriental - began to scream out a litany of curses, Harry, Rose and Hermione scowled. "_Urusai_!" the young lord of the Potters of Taunton Deane snarled as he drew out his wand. "_**STUPEFY!**_"

One direct hit later, the man had passed out on the street. "He's Japanese?" Dean asked; he had drawn out his own wand and moved to shield his family when Chikage had vanished and all the shouting had started (as had Justin, Sally-Anne and Kevin).

"Yeah! I'll bet he's part of the Onogoro Order, too!" Harry snarled as he walked over to stand close to the fallen man just as the glowing chain-and-hook dispersed and Chikage stepped out of the alley. "You okay, Chikage . . . _**LOOK OUT!**_" Harry then yelled on spotting someone appear _behind_ the traveller, a wand raised.

"_**KONTŌ!**_"

"_**ASASHIBISEYO!**_"

The bright beam of a Stunning Spell leapt out of the man's wand just as the soulsword appeared in Chikage's hand, the blazing blade swinging up to parry the oncoming energy bolt and let it rebound harmlessly away into the sky. Chikage then smiled as she saw someone appear behind her attacker, having been teleported there by her adopted mother just a second beforehand. On hearing the audible _pop!_ of a house elf appearing behind him, the attacker roared as he moved to defend himself.

Too late.

"_Dōrijun_ . . . " Rose hissed quietly, and then she screamed, "_**JORDENSKAGLE!**_"

Instantly, _chains_ erupted from the ground to snare the attacker around his neck, shoulders, waist, hip joints and legs, dragging him into a prone position on the ground. That allowed Rose to calmly walk over and take his wand from his hand, which made him scream out in frustrated rage, though that didn't move the young magical sheriff at all as she calmly walked out into the Alley proper and summoned another set of Earth Shackles to restrain the other attacker Harry just stunned. By then, the doors to nearby shops had opened, causing a considerable crowd to appear. One of them was a recognisable blonde freshman, who had just burst out of the Slug and Jiggers Apothecary alongside an older couple who were clearly her parents. "Harry! Chikage! What happened?" Hannah Abbott demanded before stopping to watch as Rose leaned down to rip open the unconscious attacker's shirt to reveal a complex tattoo imprinted on his skin right over his breastbone. "What in Merlin's name . . .?"

"The _Ketsukki_, Hannah. Or as I like to call it, the _Chigatsu_ . . .!"

"BLASPHEMER!"

That was the other attacker, who was still conscious as he watched the young girl that had disarmed him move to disarm his comrade. "Oh, shut up, you!" Lilian snarled as she sent a stun-bolt into the back of his head to knock him out.

As he passed out, Hannah stared at her housemate. "Why did he call you . . .?"

"A blasphemer," the traveller returned with an amused eyebrow now arching into the bangs of her hair. "That's because he's part of the _Onogoro no Shigansha_, Hannah. The Volunteers of Onogoro, otherwise called 'the Onogoro Order.'"

"They're the people who fought for the Dark Lady Tsukuyomi when Grindelwald was running loose all over Europe, Hannah," Kevin added as their peers came up to join them while Rose was giving Tamara instructions to get her field kit from their home at Beckery Hill so she could compose the initial arrest report. "She didn't like the idea of Chikage's grandfather attending a _British_ wizarding school, so she sent people here to try to kidnap him and force him to attend Dejima. He knocked them down every time."

"So they're doing it now with Chikage?" Rebecca Abbott then demanded as the audible sound of someone apparating in heralded the arrival of Hogan Roper.

"So it seems, Mrs. Abbott," Chikage replied as Rose walked over to speak to Jane's father about what just happened. "Poor idiots." A shake of the head.

The others gaped at her. "Aren't you scared, Chikage?" Hermione demanded.

"No, Hermione, there's no reason to fear these people," the traveller stated as a section of Aurors arrived. "To be frank with you, I actually _pity_ these fools!"

"Why?" Justin wondered.

A sigh. "For that, Justin, you need to understand some basic concepts of the Japanese language and how words developed there," Chikage explained as Hogan beckoned over Kingsley Shacklebolt to brief him. "Hermione, translate _shigansha_, please."

"'Volunteer,'" the normal-born from West Sussex automatically supplied.

"Is that the native Japanese way of saying the characters in that word?"

"No, it's all _on'yomi_, not _kun'yomi_," Hermione supplied, and then she explained for the others' benefit, "_On'yomi_ means 'sound reading.' It's based on the original Chinese reading of the characters as they were interpreted by the Japanese over a thousand years ago when trade between the two nations started in earnest. _Kun'yomi_ means 'meaning reading.' It's the way characters are read using native terms. To say _shigansha_ using native Japanese words, you'd have to say it _shiru-nega-mono_."

A nod. "Which is why I pity them."

"I don't get it," Sally-Anne noted.

"Sarah, the objectives of the Volunteers of Onogoro is to remove ALL traces of 'foreign' magical influences from Japan. Ancient Japanese magic - both in your dimension and mine - was based on the use of ofuda and other talismans to focus the magic on, not wands." The traveller drew out one of her charmed pieces of paper to show the others. "Yet here are these people, gladly using _Western_-style wands to help in their attack and also using nomenclature and other terms based on _Chinese_ characters which were imported to Japan over a thousand years ago." A shake of the head. "Atop that, the Volunteers _also_ claim to be supported by the great Kami of Shintō. Hearing that so insulted my grandfather that he gladly took his soulsword to the last group that attacked him back in 1937 when he was shopping for his supplies here in Diagon."

"I remember that," an aged voice then noted.

People turned as Octavius Ollivander walked up to join them. "Good morning, Mister Ollivander," Hermione said with a smile. "How are you today?"

He nodded at her. "Miss Granger. Vine wood with a dragon heartstring core, 10 3/4 inches. I'm fine. Thank you for asking." To each of the others, the knowing look on his face turning into a very amused smile as he recalled each of them. "Mister Finch-Fletchley. Blackthorn with a kraken tentacle tendon core, 12 inches. Miss Perks. Ivy with a mixture of cockatrice feather and scale core, 11 inches. Mister Entwhistle. Rowan moon wood with a wyrm heartstring core, 11 1/4 inches. Mister Thomas. Elder moon wood with the hair of a gryphon, 12 1/2 inches. And Miss Hirosaki. Yew with thestral mane hair, 14 inches. I trust your wands are working well?"

"Working quite fine, sir," Justin replied with a smile.

"Wait a minute!" Hermione blurted out. "Kraken tentacle tendons? Cockatrice feathers and scales? Wyrm heartstrings? Gryphon hair? You normally don't make wands with that sort of stuff, sir! How did you get all those materials?"

A laugh. "Those were wands I made all the way back in the beginning of my apprenticeship with my father, Miss Granger. I never thought I would ever sell any of them." A nod towards Chikage. "But it seems that Miss Hirosaki might have started something when she came to my shop to get her wand back in August. Messrs Finch-Fletchley, Entwhistle and Thomas and Miss Perks all visited afterward and they mated perfectly with those wands. I'm still wondering how on Earth they'll turn out."

"If you think those are odd mixtures for wands, Hermione, wait until you hear what Terry's wand is made out of," Kevin then said with a laugh.

"What?"

"Indian tulip wood with hair from his mother - who's a weretiger, by the way - and made to 35 centimetres long," Kevin answered. "Aesup's dad made it for him."

Octavius perked. "I didn't know Miss Mun's father was a wandmaker!" He then hummed. "Ah, Miss Mun. Yes. Pine, unicorn tail hair core, 11 1/4 inches. Very good wand for detailed transfigurations and conjurations. She'll be breaking a lot of magical ground, that girl." He hummed as he gazed over at Rose, who was now guiding Kingsley and the aurors that had come with him around the unconscious attackers as she described what happened. "But where on Earth did Miss Potter get her wand from?"

"From Aesup's father, I think," Hermione mused. "Then again, she did score high enough on the Neuwied Test to begin wand training at age _four_!"

"Just like Harry did at age _six_," Dean added. "You see his other wand?"

Hermione gasped. "Harry has . . .?"

She had her mouth clapped shut by Chikage. "Hermione," the traveller hissed. "Given that there's _still_ the strong possibility that Tom is running around out there somewhere, do you _**need**_ to shout that out to everyone who can hear you?"

The normal-born from West Sussex blinked, and then she blushed. "I'm saying nothing," Octavius whispered as he moved to head back to his shop.

The others watched him go, and then they smirked or giggled . . .

* * *

The Ministry of Magic, an hour later . . .

"Good morning, Director. We've got a problem here."

Amelia Bones looked up from her notes to see a grim Kingsley Shacklebolt walk up to stand before her desk in her private office, accompanied by - to her total surprise - Hogan Roper and Rose Potter! "Oh, Morganna! What happened?" she demanded.

"Tamara!" Rose snapped.

A _pop!_ heralded the arrival of Rose's social secretary, who brought with her two men wrapped up in magic-suppressing manacles (provided by Kingsley and his team), dazed looks on their faces. Seeing them, Amelia blinked . . . and then she grimaced on seeing their open shirts with the tattoos on their chests. "Onogoro Order, right?"

"Unfortunately," Kingsley stated. "They came here to kidnap Miss Hirosaki. She was in Diagon with friends going to Gringotts this morning to get withdrawals from their vaults so they could purchase transformed house elves from an abused shelter in Chatham when she was attacked. Chikage sensed the first one come in and disabled him so Harry Potter could stun him unconscious. She then used her soulsword to deflect a stunning spell from the other before Dame Rose got the drop on him and restrained him using the _Kokujun_." Amelia was quick to remember that Hogan had closed and locked the door into her office when they had come in, no doubt to ensure no eavesdropping. "Both of them possess diplomatic passports."

A moan. "Wonderful!"

"I've already magically revoked them, Director Bones," Hogan then stated.

"You . . . have no right . . . "

That was one of the prisoners. "I'm a Magical Sheriff, idiot," Hogan then snarled as he leaned down to glare into the prisoner's eyes. "And the territory of the old County of London is my patrol zone," he added as both prisoners gaped in disbelief at him; while the ancient Magical Sheriffs from old English history were well-known across the world, the fact that they still existed _today_ was not so well known, especially in the Orient. "I can do whatever I please here. And given that _your_ so-called 'society' was outlawed by the _Mahō-shō_ at the end of World War Two, the fact that you _had_ diplomatic passports won't save you from _**Gonebren!**_"

Both prisoners gargled on hearing that; the infamy of Britain's older wizarding prison and its inhabitants was ALSO known across the world. "So what's the procedure here, Sir Xavier?" Amelia asked. "If Dame Rose was the arresting officer . . . "

Rose pulled out a rolled sheet of parchment. "Copy of the arrest report for your records, Director," she said as she handed it to the director of the D.M.L.E. "Through initial interrogation using Legilimency - Sir Xavier assisted there - we discovered that they were acting alone, though they have friends back in Japan who are annoyed at the fact that the Lady Hirosaki is attending Hogwarts here in Britain while she undergoes her Magical Quest. Per the Magical Pardon and Oath of Loyalty to the Crown Act, 1703, Paragraph Two, the Lady Hirosaki has demanded they be tried before Her Majesty's Magical Privy Council and that everything is done to cut them off from any support from their friends back home." She then drew out several other rolls of parchment. "Witness depositions from the Lady Chikage Hirosaki of Kōtō, Marquess Harold Potter of Taunton Deane, Baroness Hermione Granger of Ifield, Baron Dean Thomas of Aelius Bridge, Baron Kevin Entwhistle of Accrington, Master Justin Finch-Fletchley of Chapel Saint Leonards and Mistress Sarah Perks of Ross-on-Wye, as well as my own personal report of the incident. I know your department won't accept witness reports from our normal relatives, much less two house elves of my household, Madame Lilian Evans and Madame Tamara Simmonds." She then smiled. "Unless you want personal copies . . . "

"Please," Amelia said with a smile.

Rose handed more rolls of parchment over. The door then unlocked and opened, revealing a scowling man. Appearing to be in his late forties, he limped into the room on an artificial right leg that was attached to his natural limb just below his knee. He also was missing his left eye, that replaced by a swirling orb strapped to his skull by a black band, the orb - which looked almost like a natural eye despite it having a glittering blue lens (the man's natural eye colour was blue-grey) - gyrating around in a random pattern as it scanned everything in the office. He was dressed in workman's clothing with a great cloak draped over his shoulders, the clothes specifically designed to allow him to access his wand or any other weapon on his person with great ease. On seeing him, Amelia smiled. "Alastor! What are you doing here?"

"Came to see the bastards that tried to abscond off with Ryūji's grandchild, Amelia!" Master Auror (retired) Alastor Moody snarled as he turned to glare death at the two prisoners, both of whom were quaking at this aged and scarred veteran warrior of the Purification War. "Damn! That's not right!" he spat out.

"What's not right, Alastor?" Hogan asked.

He stared at the Magical Sheriff of London. "They ain't bloody DEAD, Sir Xavier!" Alastor replied, making the others in the room wonder if he also knew the secret of the Magical Sheriffs. Given that the man was as much a gifted investigator as he was a skilled magical fighter, none of the others in the room were willing to bet either way on that. "Ryūji cut down the five bastards that tried to attack him back in '37 with a soulsword without blinking his damned eyes!" He then stared at Amelia. "I was at Cructan's when I felt the chill of a soulsword in the air when this went down," he then added. "Didn't get there in time to help out," he lamented before shaking his head and glaring at the others in the room. "The lass survived a bloody 9.9 Richter scale EARTHQUAKE before she came here! She shouldn't be scared of death! What the devil was she doing letting these bastards LIVE?" He contemptuously thumbed the prisoners.

"Grand-uncle Alastor, it's quite simple," Rose then said. "She wants them to SUFFER in _Gonebren_ for a VERY long time before they get sent back to Japan!"

"And since Dame Rose was the arresting officer, Master Auror Moody - and since the Lady Hirosaki requested it - they have a date with the Circle of Justice within the next couple of days," Amelia added as she gazed without pity at the prisoners.

After taking a moment to consider that, Alastor nodded, a grim smile crossing his face. "Bloody good!" he snarled, a touch of an Irish burr - he was a native of Dyflin (the magical section of modern Dublin) who had stayed loyal when the Republic of Ireland was acknowledged as fully independent in 1948 - appearing in his voice. "Hope the devil the Hollows don't choke on these hypocrites!" He then smiled as he gazed on Rose. "Tell me, lass: Does Chikage think they're NOT proper Japanese?"

"Of course she does, Grand-uncle!" Rose said with a grin.

"_**BLASPHEMER!**_"

That was the other prisoner, who was then magically silenced by Tamara, as was his friend. "You both be quiet, _eta_!" the human-shaped house elf snarled, making both Japanese wizards gape at her calling them by the term for "mass of filth," a derogatory term that was once applied to the "unclean" natives of the island nation who dealt with religiously "impure" elements such as anything associating with death. "_Civilised_ people are having a _civilised_ discussion here. You have no right to interrupt."

The other people in the room then smirked as both prisoners began to shout at Tamara, they looking quite comical since no noise of any sort were coming out of their mouths. "Actually, lass, since that word is actually based on the _Chinese_ readings on the kanji that go into it, you best call them _kegaōi_," Alastor then advised, which made both prisoners pale before they gazed wide-eyed at the retired auror. Noting that, the scarred warrior leaned down to glare into their eyes. "Ryūji told me that one!"

Rose hummed. "Isn't _kegaōi_ the term used by sympathisers of the so-called 'Dark Lady' Tsukuyomi when they want to speak of what people here would call a 'mudblood?'"

"Aye, lass!" Alastor said with a barked laugh. "Makes me wonder what's their true goals in the end! No damned different than Voldemort and his . . .!"

The door then burst open. "Amelia!"

Everyone looked at the man who just charged in. "Is there a problem, Cornelius?" Amelia calmly asked as the just-arrived minister found himself gaping at the two prisoners . . . and the tattoos etched into the skin of their chests.

After a moment, a look of barely-controlled fury then crossed Cornelius Fudge's face. "Damn! The bloody bastard _lied_ to me!" he hissed out.

"Who did?" Hogan asked.

"The Japanese ambassador, Hogan!" the Minister for Magic responded. "He accused the Aurors of accosting two 'innocent' men in Diagon Alley! Are these the two?"

"They are!" Amelia stated. "Have you spoken to Miss Hirosaki yet?"

Cornelius blinked, and then he paled. "Oh, my Heavens! Don't tell me . . .!"

"They were here for her, Cornelius," Alastor affirmed with a nod.

A stern look then crossed the minister's face. "I see." He then blinked on seeing one particular person in Amelia's office. "I assume, Dame Magistrate Potter, you were the arresting officer in this case?" he asked as he gave her a knowing look.

"Indeed I was, Minister Fudge. And if you wish to know, their date before the Magical Privy Council has been set for Thursday morning at ten o'clock. As usual, it will happen in the Circle of Justice at Her Majesty's Prison Gonebren," Rose reported. "Until such time as they face the Council, they'll be guests of 'A' Block there."

"Then I won't say anything more," Cornelius stated. "I won't be accused of interfering in justice, ESPECIALLY when it deals with an honoured guest of Her Majesty the Queen. Please excuse me, everyone; I have a message to write to the I.C.W. about this sordid incident!" And with that, he turned and marched out of the office.

Amelia pulled out her wand to close and lock the door. "Amazing that the man said _that_!" Rose then said as she shook her head.

The others gazed at her, and then they laughed . . .

* * *

Cirencester, the Doge mansion, Monday 24 December, after lunch . . .

"Well, at least I'm glad Miss Hirosaki escaped such an attempt," Lucius Malfoy stated before picking up his goblet of oak-matured mead and sipping from it. "Was there any attempt by the Japanese embassy to request their extradition?"

"Oh, yes!" Cornelius moaned before sipping his glass of sherry; being the actual "host" of the Yule Levée, he had to stay as sober as possible to greet all the guests even if it was Elphias Doge's large staff of house elves who were doing all the work. "Even after I showed them the pictures Hogan Roper made of their chests with that damned mark on it, the stupid fool STILL demanded they be released and allowed to go home!" A shake of the head. "I'm almost tempted to declare him _persona non grata_ and have him expelled back to Tōkyō. Can't the man SEE what was going on?"

"I would recommend against such a thing, Cornelius."

The minister gaped at his unofficial chief advisor. "Why?"

"For the simple reason that the Japanese Minister might retaliate in the same manner," Lucius stated. "There's no need to launch a diplomatic war over the actions of two men with clearly questionable sanity, Cornelius. You've long heard of how warped those who fought for the Dark Lady Tsukuyomi were when the Americans finally occupied Japan after the end of Grindelwald's War." As Cornelius nodded at that, the patriarch of the Malfoys of Cumbria then added, "No doubt, these two fellows were just strays. Part of a group that no doubt kept underground to avoid the dragnet of the American aurors after that war to keep their late mistress' memory still alive." People around the world knowledgeable in international magical affairs had heard that the woman calling herself Tsukuyomi - her birth-name was believed to be "Tsukiko Yomigawa," though such had not been properly confirmed - had been killed in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. But - just like Voldemort in a way - rumours of the return of the Dark Lady of the Orient to full power had run rampant in Japan for decades, especially during the period of Britain's Purification War in the 1970s. "I would suggest you let the wheels of justice turn properly for them. After all, we can't ignore the good efforts Rose Potter made when she arrested those men."

A nod. "Yes, you're right, Lucius. We can't do that!"

Both men laughed, and then Cornelius perked on seeing several people walk into the vast living room of the Doge mansion, they being greeted by Elphias Doge and his elder daughter Imogen. Staring at the elderly witch as Cornelius walked over to greet the American Magical Ambassador and his party, Lucius could only shake his head. Imogen Doge married into the Clan McKinnon shortly after she graduated from Hogwarts in 1924, mothering a son who had been killed along with his whole family - his wife and their two young boys - by a Death Eater named William Tavers (now currently imprisoned in Azkaban) all because Elphias' granddaughter-in-law Marlene had joined the Order of the Phoenix. _What a horrible waste!_ the patriarch of the Malfoys of Cumbria mused as he sipped his mead. A good and ancient family like the McKinnons of Mull, wiped out to the end because they refused to understand what the Dark Lord was truthfully doing for Britain, then decided to side with Dumbledore and the other blood-traitors . . .

"Something bothering you?"

He perked on hearing Mason Nott's voice, and then he smiled as the patriarch of the Notts of Torridge came up to join him, a tankard of mead in hand. "Just thinking of the tragedy our good host's daughter endured some years ago," Lucius stated.

Mason nodded. "Sad and unfortunate," he agreed before beckoning his friend over to a corner of the room, where the Carrow siblings and several other "pardoned" Death Eaters were standing as a group. Lucius was quick to sense the notice-me-not charm that had been erected around them as he joined them. "So what's going on?"

"What?" Lucius asked.

"This whole damned business with Tsukuyomi trying to make a grab for Elder Ryūji's granddaughter, of course," Lancelot Jugson then hissed. "If the Master learned about that, we'd be at bloody war with the damned Japs soon enough!"

"Relax, Lance," Mason urged. "That's to be expected, especially given how hard it was for Tsukuyomi's forces to conquer Burma, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, Brunei, Sarawak, North Borneo and all the Pacific territories during Grindelwald's War."

"I heard it was totally impossible," Amycus Carrow stated. "The muggle Japs were able to conquer those territories, but Tsukuyomi's forces were slaughtered at the borders. Same thing with Grindelwald's forces when they tried to take the Channel Islands even if the muggle Germans got onto the islands and held them for the whole war." Thinking of that, he then scowled. "How did that happen, anyway?"

"Ancient history. Forget about it," Alecto advised as she patted his shoulder. "So what should we do in this case?" she asked the others.

"We should - while understanding what the Dark Lady of the Orient is doing for her people as her goals are similar to our own - make it VERY clear that any attempts at touching the Lady Chikage would be an act of war," Lucius then stated. "After all, she came to OUR good land to learn her magic, not the counterpart of her own homeland here. According to Draco, as far as the Lady Chikage is concerned, the Dejima School is far too conservative for her tastes." A smirk. "Whatever that means."

The others nodded. "Any news about who killed Lilith?" Marcus Gibbon asked.

People gazed on him, noting the haunted look on his face, which had been there since the death of his beloved sister - followed by her body being found _crucified_ in Knockturn! - five years before. Lilith Mulciber, who was the last of her family, had faced the same fate six months before. "Nothing," Walden Macnair spat out before he took a deep pull of his mead, and then shook his head. "As normal."

"It's NOT normal!" Alecto hissed out. "Killing them, mutilating the Dark Lord's Mark, then nailing them to a damned CROSS after they died like that Muggle god . . .!"

"Enough, Alecto," Lucius urged.

The younger Carrow sibling - she was two years Amycus' junior - jerked, and then she slowly nodded. "It's just so damned frightening, Lucius," she hissed out. "We had that list of mudblood children and were ready to use it to make sure they never made it to Hogwarts. And TWICE - both with Helena and then later with Lilith - not a single one of those damn beasts was eliminated and BOTH of them were killed! Not to mention Daniel, too!" A shake of the head; everyone in their group knew the Carrow siblings - in the immediate wake of Lilith's death - had been totally obliviated of all memories concerning who had been on the list they had obtained from the Roll Book at Hogwarts by someone who had been able to break into the family home in Norfolk, then get away without a trace. "Who's out there? Who's doing this to us?"

"It could be the Magical Magistrates."

Eyes locked on Lucius. "You mean what the Potter girl is a part of?" Lancelot asked.

A nod. "I tried to get a hold of any records concerning Melvin Kneen at the Ministry, but wasn't able to get a thing," Lucius stated. "Couldn't even find out who was involved in the actual arrest beyond Rose; no one in the D.M.L.E. would say a damned thing to me, even those who might be more inclined to support our position." As the others all stared at him, he sighed. "Narcissa attended the trial at Gonebren. It was by the book, but no information came out concerning what actually happened when he was arrested and those muggle girls and his family were rescued."

"What about any information concerning those muggles?" Mason asked.

"Nothing. I know of one name: Laurell Hamilton. Supposedly, she lives in North Somerset, but no one has any idea where and any attempts by Delores to send out Obliviators to blank the girl's mind of our world were stopped by Cornelius because of one of these so-called 'magical royal proclamations.'" Lucius then sighed. "I do have contacts that are willing to work in the muggle world. I could get one of them to trace down this girl and have her interrogated over what happened with Melvin."

"What about asking Vanessa directly? Or her son?" Amycus asked.

"She's never supported the Dark Lord. And Blaise is getting a little too close to Malcolm's, Cyrus' and Allan's daughters. They spend most of their time with Harry Potter, the Lady Chikage, the mudblood girl Granger, Napaeae's daughter Achelois and those five other girls who were with Harry when he first came to Diagon."

"Do it," Lancelot asked. "We need information and we need it fast, Lucius." His hand then drifted over his covered arm tattoo. "Has anyone noticed the Mark?"

The others tensed. "It felt like the Dark Lord was close, but I haven't felt a summons," the senior Vincent Crabbe said. "Could he be here? In Britain?"

"Maybe," Lance Goyle affirmed with a gruff nod. "After all, Potter is at Hogwarts now and his sister's surviving the Dark Lord's attack on her mudblood mother is now known. He won't tolerate something like that at all."

"There was that thing about Gringotts, too," Mason added.

"Some sort of break-in attempt?" Walden asked.

"What was it about?" Alecto wondered.

"Who knows," Lucius breathed out . . .

* * *

_Stupid idiots! If you had any idea what Ryūji REALLY created . . .!_

Standing at another corner of the room and gazing out a picture window at the manicured lawns around the Doge estate, Alastor Moody kept his face totally still as he sipped his own tankard of mead. Were anyone able to see his artificial eye, they would notice that it was totally white; right now, it was fixed on the gathering of traitors to magic across the room, gazing through the back of Alastor's head. Much that he acknowledged the Death Eaters who had avoided Azkaban for their skills in avoiding jail time, he loathed what they represented.

_And they admire Chikage's grandfather because he treated Riddle with kindness in his first year! Even saved the bastard's life in the Yule Scream of '38 . . .!_

Despite the passage of time, Alastor shuddered as he remembered that day near the end of the last December that the Traveller would spend in this dimension. How he had blown the doors off the Great Hall and marched in like Musashi Miyamoto himself, blasting down thirteen BANSHEES of all things with that _ki_-cannon grapeshot attack of his, then slicing off their heads with his soulsword, as calm as could be as he faced down the death-spirits when he urged them to cease their attack and withdraw from Hogwarts in a show of mercy that the most legendary of Japan's samurai would have admired. It was THAT incident that had convinced Alastor to join the Aurors after he graduated from Hogwarts. For all the things that Ryūji Hirosaki had represented - from the day he had teleported through the dimensional veil right into the Great Hall of Hogwarts in September of 1932 to when he left to return home in June of 1939 - there was one thing above all else that truly marked the man from another Earth:

An unerring sense of right and wrong.

_Don't know if people like Glaston and Wilma were planning to become the Magical Sheriffs of their home counties before Ryūji came, but I'm more than sure that when they took the oaths to become Her Majesty's Sheriffs, they took what he did to heart. Right to the damned day Glaston sacrificed himself to save Lily's daughter . . .!_

Thinking of that, the retired master auror could only smirk, though he quickly got control of himself and relaxed as he continued to monitor the little gathering of those blasted child-murderers across the way; despite their using a notice-me-not charm to keep others from looking over and seeing what was going on, Alastor's magical eye had the power to penetrate such fields and he was well-versed in lip-reading. If Riddle was somewhere in England at this time - Alastor, as a former Ravenclaw, had been quick to deduce that Voldemort had somehow survived that Hallowe'en night; if he truthfully HAD died, the Dark Marks on all his followers would have vanished once and for all - he would know now about the _Desidero Infantis_ spell and what it had done to ensure Rose Potter would live to take Glaston Tore's place as the Magical Sheriff of Somerset. And if the idiot wasn't so totally gone from all his self-transformation over the previous four decades that had turned him into the ghastly-looking bastard he was when he was finally deprived of a body in 1981, he would realise that any hope of trying to win Chikage to his side - or at least win her sympathies - would end in failure. For even if there was something dark lurking deep within the lass' soul - after all, why would the lass be given a name meaning "thousand shadows?" - her sense of right and wrong was clearly as ironclad as her grandfather's.

_Now Tsukuyomi's getting involved . . ._

That would make Chikage's life exciting as she continued her magical schooling at Hogwarts. In her own way, the Dark Lady of the Orient was even MORE vicious than Gellert Grindelwald and Tom Marvolo Riddle COMBINED. And, unlike her counterpart in Germany at the time, Tsukuyomi HAD come to nearly succeed in forever shattering what controls the International Confederation of Wizards had imposed on her ancient homeland over the previous two centuries when the flyers of the 509th Composite Group, United States Army Air Forces launched Special Mission 16 aboard a Boeing B-29 Superfortress named _Bockscar_ to turn Nagasaki into a very big bomb crater. Since that time, there had been no confirmed sightings of the Dark Lady of the Orient, but the rumours were far too thick to deny that somehow, somewhere, she was alive and biding her time.

_Just like Riddle's probably done over the last decade_, Alastor mused to himself before noting that the Death Eaters across the way were slowly breaking up to join the rest of the party. _Time to go pay Wilma a visit and pass on some news to young Rose_, the retired master auror then thought as he finished his mead and set the tankard aside on a nearby table, where it soon disappeared thanks to a handy house elf.

With that, he limped out of the living room into a hallway that would lead right to Elphias' personal reading room, where a handy fireplace was. Just as he got there, the door then opened to reveal Albus Dumbledore's old classmate. The lord of the Doges of Watermoor was quick to see the determination on the face of the retired master auror and fellow Order of the Phoenix member. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Alastor limped in, closing the door behind him and whispering a spell to lock it. "Need to borrow the floo to get over to Wilma Skegness' place."

Elphias - he learned the secret of the Magical Sheriffs in late 1944 when he was saved by Calvin Hobbes from a V-1 "buzz bomb" that had been shot at the city from the Dutch coast and was apparated into Reevetor London so he could be checked out by a healer - blinked, and then he nodded. "Floo's in the right cup."

"Thanks." And with that, Alastor walked over to pinch some floo powder and tossed it into the fire, barking out, "_**REEVETOR LINDSEY!**_"

And in a flash of green fire, he was gone . . .

* * *

Lindum Colonia, the Reevetor Lindsey (Lincolnshire) . . .

. . . and appeared only to have a wand pointed at his face.

"Alastor?"

He looked up, and then cackled. "Damn! Nice reflexes, Wilma!" he said as he held up both hands to show he meant no harm. "Constant Vigilance, I always say . . . "

Wilma Skegness stared at him for a moment, and then she sighed. Clearly, the retired master auror - who had been a Ravenclaw a year behind Ryūji Hirosaki back at Hogwarts, she then remembered - had figured things out a long time ago. "Did you ever do the Loyal Oath?"

"To myself, but not before any one of you," he admitted.

"Get over here."

With that, he stepped out of the fireplace and followed Wilma to the scrying room on the second floor of the building; he had flooed into the ground floor just as she was about to step outside to join celebrations in the urban part of the Reevewick Lincolnshire itself. The Shire Reeve's Tower for the Loyal County of Lincolnshire - called "Lindsey" in honour of the ancient kingdom of the same name that had once stood in the area between the River Humber and the Wash - was located on a triangular piece of land about a square kilometre in size. Such was bordered on the west by Saxilby Road and the east by Long Leys Road, stretching from Hewson Road to the A-46 motorway just outside the urban area of Lincoln itself. Like many of the other hidden magical areas that were directly policed by the Magical Sheriffs, Lindum Colonia - the village name was taken from the old Roman name for the town of Lincoln itself - not only had a fair number of human magical inhabitants, but also a centaur herd who grazed the middle range of the magical zone and had direct connections to a merfolk colony who inhabited a pond to the southwest of the Reevetor itself, just across the River Witham.

Once they were within the scrying room, Wilma walked over to a desk to pull out a knife. "Where do you normally live these days?" she then wondered.

A smirk. "Constant Vigilance, lass! I don't tell that to _**anyone**_!"

The Magical Sheriff of Lincolnshire and Her Majesty's Witch of the Realm could only shake her head. She didn't know where Ryūji's old housemate had gained his near-paranoid view of life, but surely he could let it down just this time. "Never mind," she breathed out as she beckoned him to the middle of the room. A quick jab of the dirk into his offered palm later, she then held up her right hand as he did the same. She then said, "Repeat after me: 'I, Alastor Brandanus Moody . . . '"

* * *

A couple minutes later . . .

"Ah, Alastor! What are you doing here?"

"Came to find young Rose, Albus," Alastor said as he walked up to take the headmaster's hand in his own. "Was at Elphias' place just now."

Albus tensed. Given his old friend's passion for dealing harshly with dark wizards, he could guess what had prompted Alastor - whom he realised knew the truth about the Magical Sheriffs, yet didn't know the exact means and time such had happened - to come here direct from the Doge mansion. "What did you discover?" he asked as he drew out his wand to form a localised notice-me-not field around them.

"They're planning to go after the eldest of Melvin Kneen's muggle ex-prisoners to learn how Rosier, Gibbon and Mulciber got their Dark Marks burned out of them."

Silence.

"Oh, no . . .!" Albus moaned. "And one of them happened to be old enough to NOT be shielded by the Children Act, not like Harry's old classmate and the others."

"Relax."

Both gazed on Wilma. "What happened?" Alastor bade with a nod.

The Magical Sheriff of Lincolnshire smiled. "Given that, when Hamilton St. John did the Neuwied Test on them after they were finally freed by Rose, it was discovered that Miss Hamilton and her friends scored high enough to be considered 'squibs' . . . " - she tried not to make a face on saying that - " . . . Rose then decided to give them a further present for all their troubles. She arranged with Oberon's Sanctuary in Chatham to have human-form house elves purchased for each of them - each trained and prepared to act fully and convincingly as auxiliary MI5 agents to protect them from further harm from the 'terrorist' who had kidnapped them in the first place - so they could be protected in case idiots like Delores Umbridge or her would-be supporters who also fought for Tom Riddle decided that they won't respect ANY of Her Majesty's laws, even the 'muggle' ones." Again, she tried not to make a face on saying _that_ word.

"So if Miss Hamilton or her friends were attacked . . .?" Alastor began.

"Said attacker will most likely end up feeding the krakens off Lands End."

A roaring laugh escaped the retired master auror. "Constant Vigilance, indeed!"

Albus sighed. "A pity they will not learn."

The three then turned to walk towards the centre of the village, where a considerable crowd of humans and other magical creatures were now mingling with each other. Noting the wide menagerie of beings that were here today, Albus could only smile. HERE was a place where all those touched by magic - and even those normals who were related to same, as witness the presence the many parents and close relatives of normal-borns like Hermione Granger and normal-raised wizards and witches like Harry and Rose Potter - could intermingle in peace and harmony, with respect for each other's personal beliefs and traditions, without prejudice or other dark thought to cloud such a gathering. _Maybe one day soon, all of Earth will be this way_, he mused.

"They mentioned they could sense Riddle somewhere in country."

The headmaster perked on hearing that from his friend, and then he stared at Alastor. "But how?" he asked. "Without a body to use at this time . . . "

"You scan the minds of all the teachers?" Alastor asked.

"I did. They all checked clean."

Wilma blinked. "What are you doing?" she demanded, surprised to learn that Albus Dumbledore was willing to use his own Legilimency skills to invade the private thoughts of ALL his current staff, even if it was to defend against Tom Riddle.

A sigh. "Nicolas Flamel asked me to do a favour, Wilma."

More silence.

"The Philosopher's Stone?" Wilma hissed. "Albus . . .!" She then shook her head. "At _Hogwarts_? Are you . . .?" She caught herself, and then she sighed. She had heard of the attempt on Vault 713 back at the end of July, days before Harry Potter's birthday. Given what Hogan Roper had passed onto her from Ragnok, the fact that the supposed thief had nearly managed to break into a _Gringotts_ vault and abscond with something as valuable as the Philosopher's Stone - AND had managed to escape the goblins who went after him! - she could understand why Nicolas Flamel would want such a treasure elsewhere. And given that his current residence was publicly known, any use of a localised_ Fidelus_ would - in the worst case scenario - just delay the theft, not stop it cold! "PLEASE tell me the _Kokujun_'s being used to protect it!"

"No. I don't want Tom discovering what Ryūji gave all of you." Albus then sighed. "Still, we ARE using a seven-by-seven obstacle system to keep it safe."

Alastor blinked. "I thought you were just using a seven-layer system."

"A couple bright young witches who came to school recently proposed squaring that to give Tom a much rougher time if he tries for the Stone."

The retired auror blinked as he considered that. Given that the number 7 was the most powerful numerical value in magic, doing a 7 x 7 obstacle system would make it quite harsh for Riddle and whoever was helping him. "Tara Fronsac and Thérèse Peverell, right?" he then asked.

A nod. "Yes. Go talk to Aesup Mun there." Albus indicated the young Korean witch, who was currently sampling some of the culinary delights provided by other magical expats from her ancient homeland alongside the other current generation of Icemaidens. "Ask her about the _nŏksbae_ concept, Alastor. Tom did something similar - and did it SIX times over - to keep his soul anchored to this world when Lily's blood-magic protections were placed on Harry when he attacked their home in 1981."

"Try not to spread it around though, alright?" Wilma added.

Alastor stared at her, and then nodded before he headed off . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	27. Christmas

"Hello, Pansy. Michael. Mr. Parkinson. Mrs. Parkinson."

The Parkinsons all perked on hearing that greeting, and then they turned around and smiled as a certain traveller came up to join them. "Chikage!" Pansy squealed out in delight as she ran over to nearly bowl Chikage over with a hug.

"Hey!" Chikage yelped before she slowly, reluctantly returned her classmate's embrace. "No need to be THAT excited to see me," she then softly scolded.

She then allowed Malcolm to take her hand so he could deliver a courtly kiss. "Delighted to see you again, Miss Hirosaki," the lord of the Parkinsons of Keerford said as Chikage then shook Grouch's hand before accepting Michael's embrace. "I'd think you like to know that some of the potions masters and charms masters working for us have been making some considerable progress with your father's notes for the Elf Evolution," he then added. "We might be able to start marketing a conversion kit - at a reasonable price which would make it affordable to those who would be interested in it - by this summer. We're already taking in requests from potential clients."

"And you DID pass on those notes to Daphne's and Tracey's families?"

"As you requested," Grouch stated with a nod. "It'll still be something of a monopoly as our families are known to be in something of a business alliance with each other, but it won't be so restrictive that others who might be interested in delving into this line of research won't be deterred from taking a chance on their own."

"Especially foreign groups," Malcolm added.

Chikage nodded. "I'm sure your accountants in Gringotts will be salivating at the chance to start raking in the gold when it does come in," she noted before perked. "Hello, girls," she said as Daphne and Tracey came up, both accompanied by their sisters: Daphne's sister Astoria and Tracey's sisters Kimberly, Calliope and Darlene. After introductions were made, Chikage asked, "I trust this is a much better gathering than what you'll be asked to attend over at Cirencester later today?"

"I've never seen so many different magical creatures before!" Darlene Davis said before she looked over, and then she pointed. "What is _that_, anyway?"

"Darlene! Don't point!" Tracey scolded.

The youngest of the Davis sisters pouted as she glared at Tracey. "That is Elaine Buckshire, who's currently residing in Beckery-under-the-Hill, which is where Harry and Rose live, Darlene," Chikage explained. "She's a Cornu from the Magical Academic City-State of Ariadne on Nerio, the _Mundus Magicus_. Currently here studying your society for her work in race relations before she would be formally declared a schoolmaster in her own right and allowed to establish her own institution back home."

"Is that like being declared a master in things like Potions?" Astoria wondered.

"Indeed it is, Astoria," a powerful voice then called back as people turned to watch Severus Snape come up, his arm now wrapped around one of Tara Fronsac's. "Happy Christmas to you all, everyone. I trust this levée meets all your expectations."

"And excels them, too, Severus!" Malcolm said with a laugh as he shook the potions master's hand, then stepped back to allow his wife to embrace him. They then fixed their eyes on the lovely blonde now accompanying their former classmate. "You must be Tara Fronsac," he said as she offered her hand to him, which he took. "Charmed to meet you, my dear," he declared before bestowing a courtly kiss.

"As I'm charmed to meet you as well, Lord Parkinson. Lady Parkinson," Tara said with a nod, fighting down the urge to flinch at the thought of a _**man**_ touching her in _that_ manner. While she was finding it easy in some ways to adjust to being in the body of a woman - and a quite beautiful one at that - the fifth of Tom Riddle's would-be horcruxi still saw herself deep down as a man; her willingness to spend much time with Severus Snape was more out of professional respect as the man who would later come to be called Lord Voldemort had become an accredited potions master himself. Fortunately, Chikage's tales of a warrior from her own universe named Ranma Saotome - who had been cursed in a valley full of magical springs in China called "Zhòuquán-xiāng" - had been of great help to Tara in making her realise she wasn't alone. "You should be proud of both your son and your daughter. They're doing extremely well in all their classes. Surprises me Pansy was sorted into Slytherin in lieu of Ravenclaw."

"Her ambition is much greater than Michael's," Grouch explained, feeling a sense of odd familiarity about the woman now with her old classmate. _Who is she?_ she mused to herself, and then she sighed. "Hopefully, Harry will be able to catch up to her."

"Are you trying to get Harry interested in her?" Severus asked with a smirk.

"Do you blame me?"

A shake of the head. "No, I do not," Severus said. "It was a wonderful thing that James and Lily did for both of you. I'm sorry that we never clued you in on what had happened to Harry - much less learning about Rose - when he moved to Somerset to live with her five years ago. Albus felt it was the right thing to do."

"In _**that**_ point, I would agree," Malcolm said with a nod. "I overheard what Rose told Cornelius about the pile of mail that had accumulated by the time Harry actually got to Hogwarts. _How_ many arrests for hexed mail was it at the end?"

"Twenty-four dunderheads, with possibly more to come," Severus reported. "All spending a nice five year vacation in Gonebren as a result."

"Do you think people who fought for Riddle would STILL try to go after Harry, Uncle Severus?" Daphne then asked, a shocked look on her face.

"I wouldn't put it past the more passionate ones, Daphne," the potions master replied. "Many of them - even myself at the beginning - were loyal to Tom and what he envisioned for the future of wizard-kind in Britain. Harry's - and by extension, Rose's - surviving Tom's attempt at killing them is, in the eyes of such people, an insult to the Dark Lord's honour and has to be addressed. Preferably before Harry comes of age and can claim his family seat in the Wizengamot."

"Which he actually claimed last summer when we went together to do our shopping in Diagon, Professor," Chikage noted. "He just elected to keep his seat in recess, just like the Ropers, the Runcorns, the Collinses and the Matthewses are doing at this time." A shake of the head. "It amazes me that so many people can't simply sit down and read through things to better understand what is happening around them."

"You're right about that, Chikage," Grouch said. "Take the Magical Sheriffs for example. It actually spells it out in Paragraph One of the Magical Royal Proclamation of 1692: the position of the Crown's Magical Magistrate for each of the counties in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland were seen as perpetuating the positions of the Magical Sheriffs of old. Anyone who has a basic understanding of English would then realise that 'perpetuating' means prolonging the existence of something."

The others all nodded. "Personally, I can understand why is it Master Riddle would want to take over this country," Tara then mused.

"Why do you say that, Tara?" Tracey asked.

"Because, in a way, having magic makes us all lazy, Tracey," Tara replied. "If we want something, we can conjurate it or transfigure something into it. Muggles like Hermione's parents . . . " - she then nodded to where the Grangers were standing as a group nearby, having met up with the Muns - " . . . don't have that advantage, so over the years - especially in the last two hundred years - they had to develop various types of technology and come to learn all forms of science to better understand and comprehend the world around them. Where are the magicals moving to progress the studies of magic even further? In one sense of the term, Tom Riddle was the last true innovator of magic." She then stared at Severus. "Would you agree to that?"

A nod. "Yes, but I would argue that there has been innovation in magic as well, Tara. However, most of the innovators in Britain have been either normal-borns or normal-raised, influenced in their own ways by the passion towards technology and science normals often adopt." Severus nodded to his right. "Look there." As people looked, he explained, "That's Rose's godfather, Healer Hamilton St. John. He was working on his own version of the Wolfsbane Potion when Damocles Belby came out with his version back in 1982. When he got hold of what Damocles came up with, Hamilton used the knowledge he had - gleaned when he studied in Ariadne after the Second World War - to make improvements to the potion that would render any lunar canine therianthrope such as Rose's and Harry's current guardian, Remus Lupin, quite harmless and playful whenever the full moon comes out." A shake of the head. "Shocked the devil right out of me when I was visiting them one full moon and I saw them BOTH go out to play with Remus, Nancy Snagge and the others of their pack when they transformed."

Horrified gasps from the Parkinsons, the Greengrass sisters and the Davis sisters. "Were they ever bitten?" Calliope Davis then demanded.

"No, Calliope, they've never been harmed when they've gone out to play with the wolves," Severus said with an amused smile. "Part of Hamilton's work on Wolfsbane imposes the genetic memories and behaviour traits of wolf cubs onto those who take the potion. Thus, people like Remus and Nancy come to see people like Rose and Harry very much like what normal puppies would view their own brothers and sisters."

"Someone else to play with," Grouch mused. "Why do I smell gold now?"

"It would be an incredible marketing opportunity," Malcolm said. "Let's go over to the good healer and talk to him for a bit. Excuse us, everyone."

With that, Pansy's parents headed over to where Hamilton was standing. Watching them go, Chikage felt her eyebrow arch into the bangs of her hair, and then she gazed on Pansy. "Tell me something: Is there goblin blood somewhere in your ancestry?"

Pansy gaped. "_**WHAT?**_" she shrieked out as the Greengrass sisters, the Davis sisters and Michael all laughed. "I ought to hex you for that, Hirosaki!"

Chikage raised a hand to ward off a potential spell coming her way as more laughter escaped the others, and then a voice called out, "Lady Hirosaki!"

The traveller perked, and then she turned before nodding. "Marchioness Black," she said as Adara Riel walked up to them, dressed like many of the other people at this levée in normal clothes, though she also had a cape over her embossed with the crest of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black of Grimmauld poised over her heart. "Merry Christmas to you, Adara. Where are your mother and grandparents?"

Adara nodded off towards the Reevetor Lindsey. "Talking shop with Dame Wilma and some of the older Sheriffs right now. Merry Christmas to you too, Chikage." A nod to Pansy, Daphne and Tracey. "Everyone." As they greeted her back, she turned to the traveller. "So when will you be able to come visit the house? Grandmother Walburga - her magical picture, that is - is very anxious to meet you at last."

"I'll be available on Boxing Day since we don't celebrate a holiday like that in Japan," Chikage replied. "Of course, I'll try to keep Rose from losing her temper should she learn of my coming to visit you to examine Master Kreacher." She perked. "I do believe there's something else I can bring to Grimmauld with me when I come to visit. Would you ladies not agree with me?" she asked Pansy, Daphne and Tracey.

The three Slytherin freshmen were nonplussed by that comment, and then their eyes went wide as they remembered what they had learned when they first met Tamsin Gaunt and the Ghost Riders. "Right! Forgot all about that!" Pansy trilled out.

"Good point," Daphne noted.

"What?" Adara demanded.

"Now, Adara, if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?"

The Canadian-born liege lady of the Blacks of Grimmauld blinked before she turned to stare intently at Chikage for a moment, and then she perked as footfalls heralded the arrival of one of the hosts of this gathering. "Excuse me, girls, but you and your parents wanted to be reminded of the time you wanted to go down to Cirencester to be at the Minister's Levée," Matilda Godwine stated with a knowing look on her face.

Hearing that, everyone groaned. "Right. The meat parade," Tracey breathed out.

"Would you ladies care for escorts?"

Eyes then locked on Chikage . . .

* * *

Cirencester, the Doge mansion, a half-hour later . . .

"Grand-uncle Elphias!"

Elphias Doge blinked on hearing that shouted greeting, and then he grinned as he leaned down to accept Harry's and Rose's embraces. "My God! I can't believe how much you've grown since I last saw you, Harry!" he said as he patted the shoulders of the Boy-Who-Lived, and then he turned before his dark brown eyes began to mist over. "Oh, my Heavens . . .!" he breathed out before grasping Rose's shoulders. "And I thought Harry took after both his parents! You're the spit and image of Lily herself when she first began going to Hogwarts! Except for the glasses, of course!" He then laughed.

Rose sighed. "Is everyone like that, big brother?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Always comparing you to Dad and Mom?"

A nod. "Sometimes. But most often, they just say it once and forget about it."

A moan. "Thank the Spirits for that!" Rose breathed out.

Laughter filled the recreation room of the Doge mansion, where the Potter siblings and their companions had just flooed in from Reevetor Lindsey. Accompanying them were Remus Lupin, Hamilton St. John, Hermione Granger (who was escorting Harry), Chikage, Adara Riel and her family (with Kevin Entwhistle as Adara's escort), the Parkinsons (Sally-Anne Perks acting as Michael's escort for the day), the Greengrasses (with Justin Finch-Fletchley acting as Daphne's escort) and the Davises (with Dean Thomas acting as Tracey's escort for the day), not to mention Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape and Tara Fronsac. Immediately, the headmaster of Hogwarts handled all the introductions for his old classmate. Once that was done, Elphias then beckoned them to the main reception hall where the Minister's Levée was currently being held. "My Lady Baroness?" Harry then said as he offered his arm to Hermione, a smile on his face.

"Thank you, My Lord Marquess," she replied as she slipped her arm around his, and then they headed out of the room side-by-side.

Immediately, Michael, Kevin, Justin and Dean offered their arms for their "dates for the day," which were taken by Sally-Anne, Adara, Daphne and Tracey as they headed out of the room. Chikage then offered her arm to Pansy, who took it as they headed out of the room. Watching them go, the older people could only smile or nod in approval. "This should keep all the gold-diggers at bay for a bit," Malcolm noted.

"Until they find out about the others being muggleborn," Grouch then warned.

"Oh, I don't think that'll matter for long, Auntie Grouch."

Eyes locked on Rose. "What do you mean, Rose?" Severus asked.

Rose smiled. "Well, with Sally-Anne being a True Goblin Friend and having found the Meretrices of Wye and all the other rich families of Rhosan Green, Justin being descent of the Dorchesters of Kesteven, Hermione being descent of the Carters of Ifield, Dean coming from the Masons of Aelius Bridge and Kevin descent from the Battersbys of Accrington . . . " And with that, she headed off to join her brother and friends.

The others watched her go. "I do believe we need to start spreading some rumours around the room," Cyrus Greengrass then proposed.

"That sounds like a perfect idea, Cyrus!" Allan Davis said. "Let's go!"

And with that, they were off . . .

* * *

"Cousin Adara!"

"Cousin Draco!" Adara said as she held out her hands. "How are you?"

"I'm well," Draco said as he grasped her hands, and then turned as his own sister and other maternal cousin came up to join them.

Adara smiled. "And you two must be Raven and Cassiopeia, right?"

"We are. Well met, cousin," Raven said as she grasped Adara's hand.

"Well met to the both of you," Adara said as she then exchanged hand greetings with Cassiopeia, and then she looked around the room, quickly noting the small groups of people standing off on their own. "My, this is quite a quiet gathering."

"Yeah, it normally is that way. Hey, Harry! Pans! Daph! Trace!"

"Hey, Draco!" Harry said as he offered his hand. "Where're Vince and Greg?"

"Where else? By the food; it was nice of Thérèse to let them come down to be with their parents today," Draco said as he shook Harry's hand, and then nodded to where Thérèse Peverell was now standing close to where the snack bar was located. And sure enough, there were both the younger Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, eating away.

"Sarah!"

Sally-Anne turned, and then grinned as Libera Meretrice came up to embrace her, delivering a warm kiss to the normal-born's lips. "Libera! What are you doing here?"

"Thérèse brought them down, too," Draco explained as the other Meretrice sisters and their fellow first years from Rhosan Green quickly broke off from whoever they were speaking to so they could join their classmates. "They needed to meet up with people so they could reconnect to all of their ancestors' old allies in the Wizengamot."

"And we seem to be making some headway," Vesta Meretrice stated as she leaned over to kiss Draco on the cheek - which instantly made him blush - before she turned to gaze on her housemate. "Friend Michael, seeing that my sister would prefer to be in the close company of her beloved Sarah, would you be offended if I took her place?"

"Not at all, my lady," Michael said as he offered his arm.

She took it, and then escorted him off to rejoin the small gathering of elder witches she had been conversing with close to the main doors. Watching them go, Hermione then sighed. "That's another great strength people like you have, Draco."

Surprised by that comment by the normal-born from West Sussex, Draco turned to stare wide-eyed at her. "What do you mean by that, Hermione?"

"It's how fast and how easy you adjust to the demands of adulthood."

A sigh. "Well, I don't know what it's like for muggles, but people like myself have to worry about being ready to take over the headships of our families when the time comes," Draco then confessed. "It doesn't mean we don't have fun. We do. But we have the futures of our families to worry about, too." He then considered that for a moment before smiling. "I guess you muggle-borns have an advantage as well. You don't have to worry about that sort of thing; the novelty of magic must be overwhelming."

"Well, it is - and I have to admit that there's a part of me that's STILL trying to equate what I've learned in magic over the last four months with what I've learned in science classes in previous years at public school - but I don't think it'll be that overwhelming in the long run," she noted, and then she shrugged. "I guess the instant Professor McGonagall or any of the other senior teachers show up with the invitations, our destinies are set in stone. The sooner we come to fully accept that - while still remembering our roots - the better we'll be in the long term."

"And that's a wise attitude to possess, young lady."

Everyone turned. "Oh, Mother!" Draco called out as Narcissa came up to join them, and then he moved to perform introductions for the new arrivals.

Immediately, the matriarch of the Malfoys of Cumbria was taken away by the impeccable manners people like Justin, Kevin and Dean were all quick to show her. "Well met to you all," she then declared after the last courtly kiss was delivered. "I've heard of the lessons you muggle-borns have been taking thanks to Miss Peverell and Miss Fronsac since they became Free Witch Apprentices at the school last month. I'm glad to see that you're readily following in the footsteps of Harry's and Rose's mother."

"Not all the way to the end, of course, Aunt Narcissa," Harry then noted.

Narcissa blinked, and then she blushed. "Indeed, I hope not, Harry. What happened to your parents was a tragedy. Still, I'm glad Sir Glaston was there for your sister and your mother when they needed him the most." She then gazed on Chikage. "Was that what your grandfather expected would happen with that spell, Chikage?"

"Indeed he did expect it, though clearly not to the level that Grand-uncle's spell actually reached out even beyond the borders of Somerset, Mrs. Malfoy," the traveller then stated as she gazed on Raven and Cassiopeia, thus openly acknowledging that they both had been saved by the _Desidero Infantis_ that had been cast on the evening of Hallowe'en in 1981. "Then again, it does conform to certain elements of not only Japanese morality, but also the morality of many other cultures. After all, would you not gladly sacrifice your own life to protect your children?"

"Of course I would!"

"Then - regardless of the fact that a life was lost that evening . . . and that another life would be extinguished a little over four months later - the balance was truly on the side of right as I can now sense SIX people were touched by the magic of that spell. Rose, Raven and Cassiopeia being three of them." Chikage then sighed. "We pray such sacrifices are not necessary, but deep down, we realise that there is no higher imperative that would drive anyone into action than '_child in danger_!'"

"Indeed, friend Chikage, you are correct about that," Fauna Meretrice said.

"And the magical worlds are not alone in feeling that way, Fauna," the traveller then added. "In the normal world, firefighters and police officers gladly sacrifice their lives to save babies trapped in a burning building or a wrecked vehicle. Look at what happened when the _Titanic_ struck the iceberg on the evening of 14 April 1912. The call was automatic by Captain Smith: 'Women and children first.'" She decided not to bring up the class differences in play during that horrible evening that had cost the lives of many third-class women and children when the great liner succumbed to her mortal wound and slipped into the icy waters off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland the following morning.

The others all nodded. "I think that wizarding tradition classes should be mandatory for all normal-borns and normal-raised children who are coming to Hogwarts," Justin then stated, which made Narcissa and Draco both gape in surprise at him. "I have to admit, I felt pretty lost at times before Thérèse and Tara came along to tutor us on all these things. Remember when we celebrated your birthday, Hermione?"

A moan. "Don't remind me, Justin!"

"What happened?" Narcissa asked.

"We were all invited to share in the birthday cake and give presents to Hermione in the Great Hall that night," Sally-Anne answered. "All the ghosts were there."

Narcissa's breath caught in her throat. "It was pretty scary, Aunt Cissa, but Chikage here was quick to quell all our fears," Daphne then stated.

Surprise crossed the older woman's face. "Oh? How so?"

The traveller smiled. "Remember one thing when it comes to ghosts, Mrs. Malfoy. They may understand why they were not allowed to fully pass on into the next life, but for most of their time caught in such a state of transition in our world, they're _bored_!" As Draco's mother gaped, Chikage then sighed. "In the meantime, I do believe we need to head over to greet the Minister; he looks a little bit tired and needs to have his spirits brightened before the end of the levée. Everyone, shall we?"

Nods from the others as they headed over as a group to greet Cornelius Fudge. Watching them go, Narcissa found herself nodding in quiet appreciation at how much her son's classmates - especially the muggle-born amongst them - were working to forge ties together with each other regardless of their blood status or other factors that had so badly divided previous classes, especially during the years the Purification War had come to nearly rip British wizarding society apart. Noting that look, Draco then sighed. "They're not as bad as I once thought them to be," he then admitted.

She gazed at him, and then she nodded. "Indeed they aren't, Drake. Then again, I don't think any muggle-born is really that bad in the long term. And if people like Hermione - who indeed is getting close to Harry - are willing to give our society a chance if they're so desperate to learn about our morals and traditions, we should give them every chance they can get." A sigh. "Perhaps this time, others will see the virtues of such a thing and not automatically slide into Riddle's camp."

Draco blinked, quickly noting that Lucius wasn't close by. "Do you really think the Dark Lord will come back, Mother?" he then asked in a low whisper.

"Severus is very much convinced of it, my son. We all must be prepared."

Draco nodded, his hand reaching over to grasp Raven's . . .

* * *

Beckery Hill, the Reevetor Somerset, late that evening . . .

"That . . . "

Eyes locked on Rose. "What, kitten?" Remus asked, smirking.

"That had to be the most BORING thing I've ever done!" Rose then spat out. The levée at Lindum Colonia had ended some minutes before. After the Dursleys had been transported by floo back to their home in Little Whinging - much to Harry's and Rose's private delight, their cousins just LOVED travelling that way! - so they could sleep in their own beds in preparation for the arrival of Vernon's sister Marge the next day for Christmas celebrations, the Potter siblings and Chikage had come straight back to Beckery Hill. They had been joined by Thérèse Peverell and Tara Fronsac; much to Remus' surprise and Lilian's amusement, Harry once again found himself once more in the lap of the woman who had been born from the last soul-replica that Tom Riddle accidentally lodged into his head over ten years before. "Even if I don't like helping run the Sheriffs' Levée, I at least can enjoy _decent_ conversations with people, Uncle Moony!" the young Magical Sheriff of Somerset then complained before sipping her apple juice. Everyone was now seated around the dining room table enjoying a late snack before going to bed. "All the people at Grand-uncle Elphias' place were doing was either commenting on how much I look like Mom or trying to convince me to meet up with some boy I might be going to school with!"

"You can say that again, Rose," Harry mused. "Even if I had 'Mione with me the whole time we were there, people were going crazy trying to convince me to meet some other girl, even older girls!" A disgusted look crossed his face. "'Oh, she doesn't seem proper to me! A dentist? What in Merlin's name is that, anyway? Some sort of muggle soothsayer?'" A moan. "Mudbrains, the whole damned lot of them!"

"You are pretty powerful politically, Harry. And the whole 'boy-who-lived' fame is something that just can't be denied no matter how much either you or Rose scream out the truth of what happened that night," Remus said before sipping his tea. "You just don't understand how bad it really became for us in 'mainstream' society, especially in the latter part of the 1970s right up to ten years ago when Riddle finally attacked your parents. People were dying and disappearing almost every week." He sighed. "I know now that in some cases, those who disappeared were saved by the Magical Sheriffs since they were muggleborns shielded by the Loyal Oath to the Crown and had requested that protection. But we didn't know any of those things back then. All we knew is that friends and people who would never wish anyone harm were gone, never to be seen again."

"So why didn't Albus do anything to really press the fight against Tom, Remus?" Thérèse asked. "You had pretty powerful duellists in the Order. Alastor Moody, for example."

"They were too afraid to allow themselves to slip into the dark."

Eyes locked on Lilian. "It was a war. And one side didn't wish to fight it AS one," Chikage then stated. "I would assume it was Professor Dumbledore's experience with his former lover back in the 1940s that prompted such an attitude."

A nod. "I think so. Much that I can understand the desire for people to think the best of another person, there were times that Albus took it a little too far," Lilian noted. "Yes, there were the honest ones. Severus, for example. But what of people like Lucius Malfoy and all those who used the 'Imperius Defence' after they were caught red-handed in Death Eater uniforms and with a book's worth of unforgivable curses having been unleashed from their wands?" A shake of the head.

"And now there is a further complication."

Eyes locked on the traveller. "The ebony meson thing, right?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Chikage breathed out. "In my universe, ebony meson radiation poisoning - though not commonly known to medical experts worldwide - IS seen as a mitigating circumstance excuse when it comes to people who are caught doing criminal acts, even the extreme ones like premeditated murder or various acts of terrorism." A sigh. "Unfortunately, I do not possess any sort of true scientific knowledge when it comes to how ebony meson ends up affecting a person's thought processes. My half-sister Rinrin is far more scientifically inclined to that end; SHE would understand it more than I can. Another co-survivor of the Second Kantō quake, Satomi Hakase - she's a classmate of Kaede Nagase's and Setsuna Sakurazaki's from Mahora - is a technomage, knowledgeable in how magic, science and technology can interact in a positive way."

"Technomancy is considered 'dark' in the eyes of 'mainstream' society," Remus warned, and then he chuckled as he added, "Even if there are accredited technomages living in Britain."

An eyebrow arched. "Really?"

A nod. "Yes. They all travelled overseas - usually to America, Canada or Japan - to study the concepts after they graduated from Hogwarts. Some of them tried to introduce benign inventions to mainstream society, but it was shot down by the Wizengamot and outlawed." Remus then smirked as he recalled something. "Pity that such a law was judged as going against the spirit of the 'fair commerce' clauses of the Separation Act and the whole thing was declared _Sine Gravitas Magicae Legis_ - without the weight of magical law - by the Magical Privy Council in 1974 when it came to all those who have sworn the Loyal Oath. THAT would make the mudbrains in the Wizengamot go crazy if that ever got out." He then laughed as he gazed on Lilian. "Remember when we visited Glasgow and saw Master Franklin's shop?" he asked.

Lilian giggled. "Well, I wanted one!" Rose then whined.

"One what?" Chikage, Tara and Thérèse asked in sync.

Before anyone could answer, a voice then called out from below, "Hello!"

"Up here, Albus!" Tara called back.

In a minute, Albus came into the room after he had flooed into the bottom floor of the Reevetor, two wrapped Christmas packages in hand. "Ah, there you all are!" he called out. "I trust we're all recovering from the fun we had today?"

"WHAT fun, Grandpapa?" Rose moaned.

Laughter filled the room. "Yes, I too find levées to be quite boring for the most part, Rose. Though there are the wonderful times when you meet someone new and unique, especially when I first met Raven Malfoy and Cassiopeia Lestrange at the Minister's Levée the winter before we found out about you." He then turned to Harry. "In the meantime - much to my surprise - I seem to be forced to play one of Santa Claus' elves today. The Weasleys passed this on to you, Harry."

Harry took the first package that the headmaster possessed, and then placed it onto the table. Drawing out one of his wands, he then whispered a complex detection spell that Remus had taught him. He then stopped as a puff of red smoke then emerged from the wrapping. "Um, Grandpapa . . . " he trilled out. "What is she trying to prove?"

"No doubt - if indeed, this is Mrs. Weasley behind that compulsion spell you just found on the package - she is attempting to circumvent what Rose forced on her back in September," Chikage then noted before sipping her tea. "Rose, what did Doctor St. John find out about what was going on with Ronald's sister Ginevra?"

"Pretty much the same sort of botched-up child's cap her brother had. Uncle wouldn't tell me anything more about that; doctor-patient confidentiality," Rose said, her body shivering slightly at the fact that Molly Weasley was STILL trying to force her will over her big brother Harry.

"Why would she still try to do such a thing?" Lilian demanded. "Doesn't she understand what the penalties concerning line theft ultimately are?"

"No doubt, she believes Harry is still quite ignorant of such things, Lilian," Albus said with a sad shake of the head. "Or possibly, she believes - as her own family, the Prewetts, were once of quite high social standing, though not possessing a seat in the Wizengamot - she won't be affected by any attempted backlash on Harry. After all, Harry's magical guardian is a werewolf." He gave Remus an apologetic look on saying that word. "In the eyes of 'mainstream' society, Remus has no rights over Harry whatsoever. Lilian would possess even lesser standing over Harry than Remus does. And as Arthur and Molly were close friends to James and Lily . . . "

"They - especially Molly - would feel it within their rights to press forth any attempts at taking magical custody over Harry," Lilian finished.

"Indeed." A sigh. "I am sorry about that, Harry. I didn't suspect . . . "

"Albus."

He turned to Tara. "Take a good look at your glasses," she advised.

The headmaster blinked, and then he slipped off his lenses as he focused his mage-sight on it. He then blinked several times before breathing out, "Oh, my . . . "

"She hexed your GLASSES?" Rose shrilled as she bolted up to her feet. "Why, I'm going down there and I'm going to personally drag that mudbrain to . . .!"

"Rose."

She spun on her family's houseguest. "_**WHAT?**_"

Chikage had a smirk on her face. "There are other ways of dealing with an obstinate and overbearing mother, Rose," she advised. "Professor, why don't you take that package and hold onto it. As I recall, Ronald's elder brothers elected to remain at Hogwarts for the holidays to get in extra study time. Tell Percy about this."

Albus blinked, and then hummed. "Much that I would prefer to keep quiet about this - especially if Tom does return, thus forcing me to bring together the Order of the Phoenix once again - I can see the virtue of doing that."

"Percy is pretty much a stickler for the rules, Grandpapa," Harry advised.

A nod. "A good point, Harry. I can see him becoming Head Boy in a couple of years if he keeps up such a strong scholastic performance as well as adheres to his school duties as a prefect. Very well, Chikage. I will do as you suggest." He then smiled as he handed the other package over. "In the meantime, Harry, I do believe you would like to have that back. It's your father's invisibility cloak."

Harry blinked, and then he grinned. "Thanks!"

"Oh, my! If only James was here!" Remus noted.

Laughter filled the room . . .

* * *

Some minutes later . . .

"You gave away one of the Hallows, Albus."

Albus stopped, and then he turned back to gaze on Thérèse. "I do not wish to succumb to the temptation bringing the Hallows together would give me," he admitted before walking into the reception room of the Reevetor Somerset, where Rose's and Harry's groundskeeper Clare Phillips was waiting, stoking the fire of the floo portal so that the headmaster could return directly to his office at Hogwarts. "Much that I have long understood the power behind the wand I seized from Gellert back in 1945, I have done my best to fight off the darker influences the Elder Wand forces on me."

"It'll be a losing battle."

He stopped to gaze on her. "Can you be sure?"

"You remember _The Tale of the Three Brothers_, Albus," Thérèse stated. "As soon as Antioch got the Deathstick from whoever created it - if he didn't create the damned thing himself, by the way! - people were killing each other left and right to get control of it." She pointed to the holstered wand in the headmaster's sleeve. "It IS a weapon meant for battle, Albus. It won't be denied no matter how much you might wish or hope otherwise. If I were you - and if you really _**are**_ serious about not wanting to give into the temptation of bringing together all the Hallows - I'd bury that thing somewhere safe and obliviate myself of the knowledge of where you hid the thing!"

Surprised by the passion in her voice over the matter of his wand, Albus then asked, "Why are you so concerned about what happens to me, Thérèse?"

She blinked, and then she sighed. "I think I know what else the 'horcrux' Tom made of my mother's family ring might also be."

Silence.

Albus paled. "Oh, my word . . .!"

"And thanks to what Tom wished for when I was 'conceived,' I have no idea where the damned thing might be hidden," she lamented. "I don't have proof positive of the ring bearing the Stone, but there WAS a symbol etched inside the ring crystal."

"A triangle with a circle contained within it, both vertically cut by a line?"

A shake of the head. "I'm not truly sure."

The headmaster sighed. "If it is that, Thérèse, then the ring IS the Stone." He gazed at her. "Are you concerned about your sister's spirit within it?"

A wry smile. "Funny. Now that I have two sisters - and the potential to gain three more after that - I really like the idea of having a family at last."

He lowered his head. "I should have listened to you, Ryūji . . . "

She shook her head. "We can't always keep our heads buried in the past, Albus."

A nod. "True. Anyhow, thank you for telling me about that, Thérèse." He then perked. "Oh! I just remembered! Tamsin told me she had the chance to speak with Merope's spirit in London where the orphanage was. Have you had that chance?"

"It'll probably be tomorrow. Tammy and the girls are coming here with Regulus Black so that Chikage can take him over to Grimmauld to introduce him to Adara."

Albus nodded. "See if Merope's image has the ring on her."

Thérèse concentrated for a moment as she tried to recall what she did know of her mother's family ring. "What if she doesn't have it?" she asked.

"Then we must pray to luck that somehow, the ring will appear." He then smiled. "Anyhow, I won't keep you from Tara and the others. Happy Christmas, Thérèse."

"You, too, Albus."

* * *

Reevetor Somerset, Tuesday 25 December, early morning . . .

"Thérèse . . .?"

"Hmmm . . . what is it, Harry?"

"I really like sleeping with you."

Hearing that, the blonde, ponytailed soul-replica of the Dark Lord Voldemort could only smile before she leaned over to kiss his cheek. "And I really like you," she whispered before pulling him closer to her.

Fortunately for Harry - as he did NOT want to explain something as embarrassing as sleeping with a bare-naked woman to Rose of all people! - Thérèse always wore a beautiful sleepshirt that Tamsin Gaunt had got for her from a place on Bond Street in London, even when sleeping alone. And while Harry certainly didn't mind now that the woman whose soul had been lodged in the scar on his forehead for a decade wanted to share a bed - and would one day gladly give up her maidenhood to him - he still found himself blushing heavily at the idea of actually sharing a bed with a woman who, in one sense of the term, was old enough to be his very own _grandmother_!

_Pop!_ "Good morning, Master Harry! Mistress Thérèse!"

He blinked, and then looked over, his blurred eyesight quickly locking in on the pretty human-shaped house elf standing by his bed. Before he could reach for his glasses, they soon appeared over his eyes, clearing up his eyesight so he could focus on the smiling face of one Elizabeth Bunter. "Oh, 'morning, Bessie! Breakfast?"

"All ready for both of you," she proudly declared with a snap of her fingers, which allowed a large tray full of hot food to appear. "Everyone else is up and Master Remus has gone to the West Gate to await the arrival of Mistress Tamsin and her friends. Clare is down by the floo to await the arrival of everyone from Hogwarts."

"Thanks!"

And with that, Bessie popped out of the room. "She is really powerful," Thérèse commented as both of them slowly sat up and stretched themselves. "Can't believe that Ryūji would dedicate his studies to finding some way to make elves human."

"Well, I'm glad Grand-Uncle did that," Harry noted.

She paused for a moment, and then she sighed. "Lilian. Yeah, I can see that."

"Do you miss your mom?"

She perked on hearing that question, and then she smiled as she gazed over his shoulder at him while he got out of bed and moved to slip a housecoat on. "Hard to miss something or someone you never really knew," she confessed. "She died when I was born, remember? Tammy had the chance to meet her ghost near the orphanage where we grew up; it's right next to Wimbledon Common in London. When she and the Ghost Riders come here, Tara and I'll go down to visit the site and maybe get the chance to meet Mother." A sigh. "I don't know what I'll do."

"What do you mean?"

"What do you say to a person you've never known yet had such an impact on your life?" Thérèse wondered. "After all, she fell in love with my father, used Amorentia to make him marry her and make my life possible, and then she was abandoned and left destitute when she stopped feeding him the potion. She didn't know enough to find her way back to where her family lived in Little Hangleton." A sigh. "Heck, I don't even remember where they lived. Probably because Tom hid a 'horcrux' there, no doubt."

"I would suggest you stop worrying about it for the day, Thérèse."

She gasped on hearing that voice, and then turned to glare at Chikage, who was now standing at the doorway to Harry's bedroom, a cup of tea in hand. "Damn! Don't _do_ that to me, Chikage! Do you want to get hexed?" she snapped as Harry laughed.

The traveller didn't reply, though her eyes were sparkling . . .

* * *

Little Whinging, 4 Privet Drive, that moment . . .

"Oh, my heavens! You hired a governess?"

"Yes, we did, Marge! This is Natalie Dingain; she's from Derry," Petunia said as she waved to the smiling woman in the well-fitting clothes standing nearby, holding both Anne and Violet in her arms. "She just came to work for us when the holidays started; fortunately, Vernon got enough of a raise to afford someone like her."

A deep bow by the raven-haired, dusky-skinned woman with the beautiful green eyes. "I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance, Ms. Marjorie."

Hearing that, the overweight woman in the plaid clothes with the hunter's jacket and the low-cut skirt jerked before she laughed. "Oh, enough of that! Call me 'Marge!' So where are the others, Petunia?" she said as she beckoned Ripper inside.

"Going through the presents right now up in Dudley's bedroom," Petunia said as she beckoned Marge upstairs, where the men of the house were. "It's a competition between Dudley and Alfred as to who gets to open their presents the fastest!"

Marge laughed. "Well, I got some things for all of them!" she said as she patted her bag. "C'mon, girls!" she then beckoned the Dursley twins. "Presents!"

Natalie smiled as she knelt down to allow Anne and Violet to get back to the floor, and then they scampered off after their mother and paternal aunt. Watching them go, the human-form house elf could only smile. Natalie Dingain once belonged to a reclusive wizarding family from County Derry - in that aspect, Petunia had told her sister-in-law the truth about where Natalie had come from - who had run afoul of the Great Mistress Dame Louise Coyle and learned the harsh penalties for disobeying the Magical Royal Proclamation of the Noble Tribes, especially given that her former master had made her punish herself for things that never warranted such punishment; he was now spending ten years in H.M. Prison Gonebren's "A" Block as a result while his wife had been totally obliviated of his existence, much less the existence of her family's old house elf.

And she had a new family to serve, one with three powerful young magical humans still in the early years of their development to bond to. Even better, she was more than guaranteed to have an almost free hand when it came to making sure her Master Alfred, Mistress Anne and Mistress Violet would grow up safe and sound now that the null-magical shield that had protected Little Whinging for over five years was finally down. Of course, such news had been relayed to the proper authorities in the Ministry of Magic and Gringotts, with the proper words spoken by the Great Master Sir Reginald Spelthorne to make sure those who would wish the Great Master Harry Potter and the Great Mistress Dame Rose Potter harm would not learn that their wonderful cousins were "in the open" and could be attacked. Of course, the foolish mudbrains who might try such an awful thing against her new masters and their family wouldn't even BEGIN to suspect there was a house elf in the Dursley home protecting the "mudbloods" living here. Not to mention another living with the "squib" at 12 Wisteria Walk.

Speaking of which . . .

Natalie smiled as she headed to the kitchen, where a raven-haired woman with Slavic features on her face was seated, enjoying some tea. "Happy Christmas, Julie."

Julie Bowmaker smiled as she gestured with her hand to close and seal the door, and then she placed a silencing spell over it to ensure that Vernon's visiting sister wouldn't know she was here. She ignored Ripper, who had followed Natalie into the kitchen and sat by the refrigerator, his nose twitching as his own senses picked up that these strange humans weren't exactly human at all, but he couldn't begin to understand what exactly they were. "Happy Christmas, Natalie. How are the kids?"

"Oh, they're alright. Happy to get presents and all. And Mistress Arabella?"

"Happy to have her floo back, not to mention someone else in the house to talk to when she gets lonely," Julie said. The former servant of an old pureblood family from the Midlands who had been almost as vicious towards their elves as some of the traditionally "dark" families were reputed to be, Julie - along with four other elves - had been rescued by the Magical Sheriff of Warwickshire, the Great Master Sir Orion Matthews, two years ago. The parents of that family had been both sentenced to Gonebren for ten years while their daughters, both of whom were the same age as Master Alfred Dursley, had been dispatched to relatives in Australia so they could be raised in a much more open and accepting environment. Of course, hearing what was planned for her old masters' "precious little ones" - and how her old masters had screamed their outrage at the thought of their little girls being sent to live with _colonials_! - had made Julie feel a private sense of satisfaction even if she had been forced to endure a long period of hollowness not being properly bonded to a family had left her during the time she had been in Oberon's Sanctuary. "As soon as Master Alfred, Mistress Anne and Mistress Violet are old enough, Mistress Arabella will give them their own kneazles to take care of before they go to Hogwarts."

Natalie hummed as she gazed at Ripper. "Someone might not be happy about that."

Julie smiled as she snapped her fingers. Instantly, a rather BIG bone with some beef still on it appeared before Ripper. The bulldog yipped in surprise on seeing such a thing _appear_ before him like that, and then he sniffed at it. Quickly smelling good food awaiting him, he snared the bone with his jaws, and then moved to leave the kitchen. Julie waved her hand to unlock the door, and then opened it to allow Ripper out. "Easy way to make him happy," she noted before finishing her tea. "See you later."

With a _pop!_, she was gone. Natalie vanished the cup of tea, and then moved to monitor the food she was preparing for Christmas lunch; Petunia had insisted that, while she didn't mind the use of elf magic for both expediency and in times of emergency, food in the house was to be made the normal way to make sure her children would understand patience. A moment after Julie had popped out, the door then opened, revealing a wide-eyed Marge. "Where on Earth did you get such a huge bone for Ripper, Miss Dingain?" she demanded.

"A friend of mine who works for a cat breeder on Wisteria Walk brought it over when I told her you'd be bringing your pet, Ms. Marge," Natalie said with a smile.

"Oh," Marge said with a nod before heading back into the living room.

A moment later, the door opened to reveal Vernon Dursley. He had a look on his face. "Did Julie have to give the damned dog such a _huge_ bone?" he hissed.

"He looked hungry and was getting a little too curious for his own good, Master Vernon," Natalie whispered back as she winked at him.

He chuckled before stepping out of the room . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


End file.
